Brian Cookson had previously backed McQuaid's re-election bid, but said Tuesday he changed his mind after being offered strong support by a number of federations, riders and team managers. That included two of the most vocal supporters of the fight against doping, former Lance Armstrong teammate Jonathan Vaughters and reformed doping cheat David Millar.

Cookson, who described himself as a ''peacemaker rather than a street fighter,'' added that McQuaid's inability to improve the UCI's image convinced him to join the race.

''In January there were still a lot of issues that we needed to be clear about, I hoped that we could get into a situation where relations and the image of the UCI was improving, but that has not happened,'' he said.

Jaimie Fuller, chief executive of sportswear manufacturer Skins, a cycling sponsor also involved in the Change Cycling Now group that has been campaigning for a shake-up in the sport's management, welcomed Cookson's decision.

''He's got a terrific track record,'' Fuller said. ''With transparency and integrity, he has done an amazing job'' at British Cycling.

McQuaid and Cookson are the only declared candidates so far for the September election.

''The passion I and many others have for cycling cannot hide the fact that our international body, the UCI, remains hugely distracted, continuing to flounder in waves of damaging historical controversies,'' Cookson added in a statement. ''For far too many people, our sport is associated with doping, with decisions that are made behind closed doors and with ceaseless conflicts with important members of the cycling family and other key stakeholders. This situation is deeply damaging for our sport, and it has severely compromised the UCI's ability to develop and communicate some of the good work that is happening across the world.''

McQuaid, who has led the UCI for eight years, is seeking a third four-year term despite criticism of his leadership in the Lance Armstrong doping case. Cycling has been battered by doping scandals over the last 15 years and its image was badly tarnished last year when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency established that Lance Armstrong used systematic doping on his way to his seven consecutive Tour de France victories.

McQuaid and his predecessor Hein Verbruggen have been accused of ignoring the doping culture and accepting money from Armstrong in exchange for turning a blind eye to his team's doping practices. Both denied any wrongdoing.

However, McQuaid is praised for the introduction of the biological passport, which monitors an athlete's blood profile over time to look for signs of cheating.

The 61-year-old Cookson promised to carry out a fully independent investigation into the allegations of corruption. Earlier this year, the UCI disbanded its own independent commission to investigate any alleged involvement of the cycling governing body in the Armstrong case.

''I'm not accusing anyone of corruption, let's be clear about that,'' Cookson said. ''The allegations need to be thoroughly and independently investigated. If I'm elected I'll make sure that happens quickly and effectively,'' he said. ''I hope there is not corruption and I hope there was not any collusion or covering up of things that should not have been covered up. But if we do find something, we'll need to deal with it properly.''

Cycling has also been hit by several doping cases this season, most recently when high-profile Italian riders Mauro Santambrogio and Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in connection with the Giro d'Italia.

While the UCI's relationship with World Anti-Doping agency has deteriorated over the past few years, Cookson said he will build new bridges with the organization if he wins.

''Cycling is not the only sport with problems but if we don't have a sport that parents can send their children to with absolute confidence, then we are failing,'' Cookson said. ''If elected I will devote myself to rebuilding relations with WADA and establishing with them a completely independent body to deal with anti-doping in cycling so that no one can doubt that it is being tackled without fear or favor. I will also seek their full co-operation in the independent investigation into the UCI's past.''

Cookson has been a member of the UCI management committee since 2009. He has led the British federation for 17 years and been promoted by British media as a suitable candidate to restore cycling's image. Cookson is enjoying the full support of his federation, while McQuaid's bid has been endorsed by the Swiss federation after Cycling Ireland withdrew its backing.

''We need to work for the good of cycling globally, and not protect vested interests, wherever they may lie,'' he said. ''The best way we can achieve this is to be much more open on how we operate and make decisions. In essence, my manifesto will outline how I would build trust in the UCI, and what our vision should be, for the future.''

---

AP Sports Writer John Leicester contributed to this report in Paris

Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, an ex-McLaren driver himself, called Perez an idiot and suggested the youngster needed a punch in the face after a collision between the two at last month's Monaco Grand Prix.

Perez's team mate Jenson Button spoke of dangerous and 'dirty' driving that the 2009 world champion said could have ended the race for both of them after they banged wheels at the Bahrain Grand Prix in April.

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael told reporters on Wednesday, however, that the team were happy with the 23-year-old's behavior.

"Ultimately he's a racing driver and he's just racing. The moves that he did (in Monaco) are all moves that have been done by all of those other drivers at some point in their careers," said the Australian.

"It was obviously hard racing, but that's what Formula One is meant to be about.

"He's a talented driver and the way that he's racing at the moment, McLaren support what he's doing," continued Michael. "We're fully behind Checo as long as he keeps developing."

Michael said Perez had gone through a transition in recent races, showed good technical insight and knew what he wanted from his engineers.

Perez will be starting his seventh race for McLaren in Canada this weekend after moving from Sauber at the end of last year as replacement for departed 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, now with Mercedes.

The Mexican has scored points three times this season, with sixth place in Bahrain his best so far for a team struggling to improve their car.

"Jenson is a world champion and a hard guy to match and Sergio is doing pretty well against him," said Michael.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John Mehaffey)

And now, two new studies, out of the  and , could be confusing matters even more: After tracking children for five to seven years, the researchers found no developmental problems associated with women who drank up to six drinks in a weekno more than one drink a day, broken up over time.

Dont get me wrong, the link between binge drinkingwhich is defined as five drinks in a single bout of drinkingduring pregnancy and developmental delay in children is universally accepted as a bad idea. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), in which a fetus is exposed to excessive alcohol, can cause stunted growth and is known to cause mental retardation. But while FAS is associated with heavy drinking during pregnancy, theres less data about low- and moderate-alcohol use. Thats because this is information thats hard to come byyou cant exactly randomly assign pregnant women to drink different amounts and then see how their kids turn out.

But this new research is starting to fill the gap. Which is not to say that light drinking during pregnancy is conclusively safe, and its definitely not an endorsement of it as a habit. Authors from one of these most recent studies made clear the possibility that their results could be due to other factors, and in all research there is potential for confounding factors. For example, the authors suggest that its possible that the different socioeconomic status (SES) between groups of women could play a role. More women who binge-drink during pregnancy are low-SES; and low-SES women are more likely to have riskier pregnancies, less prenatal care, and less-healthy infants than their high-SES counterparts. This is just one potential reason its so difficult to offer conclusive dataand clear advice for women to follow.

The official position in the U.S., which comes from the National Institutes of Health, is strict and clear: Women who are pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant should avoid drinking any amount of alcohol. The only way to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome is to not drink alcohol during pregnancy. Thats true, just as abstinence is the only certain way to prevent and pregnancy. The position offered by the National Health Service in the U.K. is a bit more lenient: [To] minimise the risk to the baby, we recommend [that women] should not drink more than 1-2 units once or twice a week and should not get drunk.

This creates an interesting question: In the age of Big Datawith Millennials turning to Google for every question, no matter how smallwhat sort of messages should be sent about the relative safety of alcohol consumption during pregnancy? We could move toward more evidence-based advice, and tell women that not drinking is ideal but that a drink or two a week probably wont hurt their child. There might be concern that this would change the prevailing attitude about alcohol during pregnancy; there is still evidence that daily consumption can be bad for fetal development. Would women use looser guidelines as an excuse to drink more than is safe? Moreover, there are individual characteristics that studies like this cant account for; each person processes alcohol differently, so safe levels of consumption will vary.

The new research from abroad might be most reassuring to women who become pregnant accidentally and arent able to change their drinking habits until after they find out. After all, according to the , some 37 percent of pregnancies are unintended. At least with this research, women dont have to stress as much over having enjoyed happy hour a few times a week before they knew they were pregnant. The bottom line is that a majority of experts are still likely to tell you not to drink while pregnant, and its still definitely the safest course of action.

Do you think this new information should do anything to change the conversation about alcohol during pregnancy? Or should all women forgo all drinking during pregnancy to be safe?

Osvaldo, joint third top scorer in Serie A this season with 16 goals, had been included in a 31-man squad for this week's training camp before becoming the latest victim of coach Cesare Prandelli's strict code of ethics.

FIGC president Giancarlo Abete told the ANSA news agency: "All decisions are made by Prandelli and the spirit of the ethics code, which ensures respectful behaviour in the Italian team, is well-known.

"Osvaldo will remain out of the squad for the Confederations Cup but that does not rule him out of future involvement (with Italy)."

Television cameras caught Osvaldo apparently insulting Roma coach Aurelio Andreazzoli at the end of Sunday's 1-0 defeat by local rivals Lazio. He was left out of the starting lineup and brought on as a substitute for the last 15 minutes.

"There's nothing new in Osvaldo making a scene when the camera is filming him," Andreazzoli told reporters. "But, in private, he's a bit of a whiner. It's his problem, not mine."

Prandelli, who has abandoned Italy's defensive style, has not been afraid to bar players because of bad behaviour with their clubs.

In February, Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci was left out of the Italy squad after angrily confronting match officials at the end of a Serie A game.

Prandelli has twice barred AS Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi for his conduct and striker Mario Balotelli also fell foul of the national team's rules when he was at Manchester City. (Reporting by Brian Homewood; Editing by Tony Goodson)

Most of all, they claimed he had failed to carry out a single spectacular operation, despite the resources at his disposal.

The employee, international terrorist Moktar Belmoktar, responded the way talented employees with bruised egos have in corporations the world over: He quit and formed his own competing group. And within months, he carried out two lethal operations that killed 101 people in all: one of the largest hostage-takings in history at a BP-operated gas plant in Algeria in January, and simultaneous bombings at a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger just last week.

The al-Qaida letter, found by The Associated Press inside a building formerly occupied by their fighters in Mali, is an intimate window into the ascent of an extremely ambitious terrorist leader, who split off from regional command because he wanted to be directly in touch with al-Qaida central. It's a glimpse into both the inner workings of a highly structured terrorist organization that requires its commanders to file monthly expense reports, and the internal dissent that led to his rise. And it foreshadows a terrorism landscape where charismatic jihadists can carry out attacks directly in al-Qaida's name, regardless of whether they are under its command.

Rudolph Atallah, the former head of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon and one of three experts who authenticated the 10-page letter dated Oct. 3, said it helps explain what happened in Algeria and Niger, both attacks that Belmoktar claimed credit for on jihadist forums.

"He's sending a message directly north to his former bosses in Algeria saying, 'I'm a jihadi. I deserve to be separate from you.' And he's also sending a message to al-Qaida, saying, 'See, those bozos in the north are incompetent. You can talk to me directly.' And in these attacks, he drew a lot of attention to himself," says Atallah, who recently testified before Congress on Belmoktar's tactics.

Born in northern Algeria, the 40-something Belmoktar, who is known in Pentagon circles by his initials MBM, traveled to Afghanistan at the age of 19, according to his online biography. He claims he lost an eye in battle and trained in al-Qaida's camps, forging ties that would allow him two decades later to split off from its regional chapter.

Over the years, there have been numerous reports of Belmoktar being sidelined or expelled by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. The letter recovered in Timbuktu, one of thousands of pages of internal documents in Arabic found by the AP earlier this year, shows he stayed loyal to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, until last year, and traces the history of their difficult relationship.

The letter, signed by the group's 14-member Shura Council, or governing body, describes its relationship with Belmoktar as "a bleeding wound," and criticizes his proposal to resign and start his own group.

"Your letter ... contained some amount of backbiting, name-calling and sneering," they write. "We refrained from wading into this battle in the past out of a hope that the crooked could be straightened by the easiest and softest means. ... But the wound continued to bleed, and in fact increasingly bled, until your last letter arrived, ending any hope of stanching the wound and healing it."

They go on to compare their group to a towering mountain before raging storms and pounding waves, and say Belmoktar's plan "threatens to fragment the being of the organization and tear it apart limb by limb."

They then begin enumerating their complaints against Belmoktar in 30 successive bullet points.

"Abu Abbas is not willing to follow anyone," they add, referring to him by his nom de guerre, Khaled Abu Abbas. "He is only willing to be followed and obeyed."

First and foremost, they quibble over the amount of money raised by the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the highest-ranking United Nations official in Niger, and his colleague. Belmoktar's men held both for four months, and in a book he later published, Fowler said he did not know if a ransom was paid.

The letter says they referred the case to al-Qaida central to force concessions in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, a plan stymied when Belmoktar struck his own deal for 700,000 euros (about $900,000) for both men. That's far below the $3 million per hostage that European governments were normally paying, according to global intelligence unit Stratfor.

"Rather than walking alongside us in the plan we outlined, he managed the case as he liked," they write indignantly. "Here we must ask, who handled this important abduction poorly? ... Does it come from the unilateral behavior along the lines of our brother Abu Abbas, which produced a blatant inadequacy: Trading the weightiest case (Canadian diplomats!!) for the most meager price (700,000 euros)!!"

The complaint reflects how al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, initially considered one of the group's weaker wings, rose to prominence by bankrolling its operation with an estimated $89 million raised by kidnapping-for-ransom foreign aid workers and tourists. No less than Osama bin Laden endorsed their business model, according to documents retrieved in the terror leader's hideout in Pakistan.

The letter also confirms for the first time that payments from European governments went directly toward buying arms to carry out attacks against Western targets, as long speculated by experts. The council chides Belmoktar for not following this practice.

"(The chapter) gave Abu Abbas a considerable amount of money to buy military material, despite its own great need for money at the time. ... Abu Abbas didn't participate in stepping up to buy weapons," the letter says. "So whose performance deserves to be called poor in this case, I wonder?"

The list of slights is long: He would not take their phone calls. He refused to send administrative and financial reports. He ignored a meeting in Timbuktu, calling it "useless." He even ordered his men to refuse to meet with al-Qaida emissaries. And he aired the organization's dirty laundry in online jihadist forums, even while refusing to communicate with the chapter via the Internet, claiming it was insecure.

Sounding like managers in any company, the Shura leaders accuse Belmoktar of not being able to get along with his peers. They charge that he recently went to Libya without permission from the chapter, which had assigned the "Libya dossier" to a rival commander called Abou Zeid. And they complain that the last unit they sent Belmoktar for backup in the Sahara spent a full three years trying to contact him before giving up.

"Why do the successive emirs of the region only have difficulties with you? You in particular every time? Or are all of them wrong and brother Khaled is right?" they charge.

The letter reveals the rifts not only between Belmoktar and his superiors, but also the distance between the local chapter and al-Qaida central. The local leaders were infuriated that Belmoktar was essentially going over their heads, saying that even AQIM has had few interactions with the mother brand in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a region they refer to by the ancient name of Khorasan.

"The great obstacles between us and the central leadership are not unknown to you. ... For example, since we vowed our allegiance, up until this very day, we have only gotten from our emirs in Khorasan just a few messages, from the two sheiks, bin Laden (God rest his soul) and Ayman (al-Zawahri)," they write. "All this, despite our multiple letters to them."

Belmoktar's ambition comes through clearly not only in the bitter responses of his bosses, but also in his own words: "Despite great financial resources ... our works were limited to the routine of abductions, which the mujahedeen got bored with."

In another quote, he calls bin Laden and al-Zawahri "the leaders of the Islamic nation, not the leaders of an organization alone. We love them and we were convinced by their program. ... So it's even more now that we are swords in their hands."

To which AQIM replies with more than a hint of sarcasm: "Very lovely words. ... Do you consider it loyalty to them to revolt against their emirs and threaten to tear apart the organization?"

Belmoktar's defection was a long time in the making, and dates back to his time as a commander of Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC. When the Iraq war started in 2003, his ambition created friction between younger Algerian fighters like himself, who wanted to join the global jihad, and an older generation whose only goal was to create an Islamic state in Algeria, according to Islamic scholar Mathieu Guidere, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

The younger faction won, but Belmoktar felt slighted because his contemporary, Abdelmalek Droukdel, was named emir of the GSPC, instead of him.

Soon after, the group petitioned to join al-Qaida. The terror network announced a "blessed union" on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2006.

Both Belmoktar and Droukdel wrote "candidacy letters" to bin Laden asking to be emir, according to Guidere's book on the subject. Again, Droukdel won.

Frustrated, Belmoktar drifted farther south. He set up in the ungoverned dunes of neighboring Mali, took a Malian wife and tapped into the smuggling routes that crisscrossed the Sahara, amassing arms and fiercely loyal fighters who called themselves, "The Masked Brigade."

His fighters killed more than a dozen soldiers at a military garrison in Mauritania in 2005 and gunned down four French tourists there in 2007. On multiple occasions Belmoktar was declared dead, including most recently in March, and each time, he re-emerged to strike again.

The sharpest blow in the council's letter may have been the accusation that, despite this history of terrorism, Belmoktar and his unit had not pulled off any attack worthy of mention in the Sahara.

"Any observer of the armed actions (carried out) in the Sahara will clearly notice the failure of The Masked Brigade to carry out spectacular operations, despite the region's vast possibilities there are plenty of mujahedeen, funding is available, weapons are widespread and strategic targets are within reach," the letter says. "Your brigade did not achieve a single spectacular operation targeting the crusader alliance."

In December, just weeks after receiving the letter, Belmoktar declared in a recorded message that he was leaving the al-Qaida chapter to form his own group. He baptized it, "Those Who Sign in Blood."

With that name, he announced his global ambition. "Those Who Sign in Blood" was also the name of an Algerian extremist unit that hijacked an Air France flight leaving Algiers in 1994. Though their goal to fly the plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris was thwarted, the unit foreshadowed the terrorist vision that led to the fall of the Twin Towers in New York.

On Jan. 11, French warplanes began bombarding northern Mali, the start of a now 5-month-old offensive to flush out the jihadists, including Belmoktar's brigade. Five days later, suicide bombers took more than 600 hostages in Ain Amenas in far eastern Algeria and killed 37, all but one foreigners, including American, French and British nationals. Belmoktar claimed responsibility in a triumphant recording.

It was no accident that he chose Ain Amenas, Guidere said. The area is in the home province of Abou Zeid, Belmoktar's longtime rival who commanded a different Saharan brigade and was always in step with the Algeria-based emirate.

"It's a punch in the gut," Guidere said. "It's saying, 'You've never been able to do anything even in your native region. Watch me. I'll carry out the biggest hostage operation ever in that very region. ... Ain Amenas is the illustration of his ability to do a quality operation, when he is under no authority other than his own, when he doesn't have to turn in expense reports or answer to anybody."

As if to turn the knife even further, last week Belmoktar also claimed responsibility for a May 23 attack at a French-owned uranium mine in Arlit, Niger. It was in Arlit in 2011 that Abou Zeid carried out his boldest operation and seized seven foreign hostages, including four French nationals who are still in the hands of AQIM.

In an apparent attempt to raise the stakes, Belmoktar's men slipped past a truck entering the mine and detonated explosives inside. More than 100 miles to the south, a different unit of fighters under his command killed 24 soldiers at a military camp, with help from another local al-Qaida off-shoot, called the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

Jean-Paul Rouiller, the director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, compared the escalation in attacks to a quarrel between a man and a woman in which each tries to have the last word. "They accused him of not doing something," Rouiller said. "His response is, 'I'll show you what I can do.'"

Belmoktar might have seen a certain justice in the coverage of the last week's attack in Niger in the leading French daily, Le Monde. Among the adjectives used to describe the event: "Spectacular."

___

Rukmini Callimachi, AP's West Africa bureau chief, reported this article in Dakar, Senegal and Timbuktu, Mali. Lee Keath, AP's Mideast enterprise editor in Cairo, translated the Arabic letter into English. The letter can be found in Arabic and English at:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-belmoktar-letter-english.pdf

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-belmoktar-letter.pdf

___

Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Back at Fenway Park as a manager for the first time since being let go by the Boston Red Sox in 2011, he was calm and occasionally funny while wearing the cap of the Cleveland Indians.

After all, he's back in baseball.

"Being in a dugout or clubhouse, there's no place I'm more comfortable," Francona said Thursday night as he sat in the opposite dugout from where he spent eight seasons as Boston's manager. "Part of the reason I'm OK with this is I'm really proud of coming here with this hat on, this uniform.

"And that takes nothing away from the eight years I was here. It makes it easier for me to look back on some of the fonder memories and now you start new ones in another place."

In his first season as their manager in 2004, the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. Three years later, they won another. And four years after that he was let go following a September collapse that cost the Red Sox a playoff berth.

"I wish the ending would have been different," Francona said before Cleveland's 12-3 win in Thursday night's opener of a four-game series.

He spent last season as an ESPN analyst then was hired after Manny Acta and interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr. lost 94 games.

The Indians started and ended Thursday in first place in the AL Central, one-half game ahead of the Detroit Tigers.

"I wasn't going to Cleveland to go to pasture," Francona said. "Every game means the same to me here in Cleveland as it ever did here. Our goals are exactly the same to win the game we're playing. But I like where I'm at and maybe for me, where I'm at in my life and baseball, this is a really good place."

There's less media and fan scrutiny. And there are fewer big-name players than he had in Boston where he managed Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett.

After Francona spoke with reporters for about 20 minutes, Ortiz walked into the dugout with a big smile and embraced his former manager.

Francona said he hadn't had much time to think how emotional the night would be.

"Everybody kept saying, 'well, are you going to be emotional?' You don't know," he said. "We played a late game (Wednesday) night. We got in about 5 (a.m.), got up at 8. It's been a busy day and, for people that know me, I really don't think that far ahead. I know I've been accused of that in the games, but I just kind of take it as it comes."

Before the game, Red Sox president Larry Lucchino visited Francona. They had parted with some bad feelings when Francona's time as manager ended.

"He was very, very kind" on Thursday, Francona said. "He just came down to say hello, which I appreciate."

After the first inning, a video tribute on the center field scoreboard showed former Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills, now Francona's third-base coach, former Red Sox catcher Kevin Cash, now Francona's bullpen coach, and former Red Sox players Justin Masterson, Mike Aviles and Rich Hill, all with the Indians.

It ended with several scenes of Francona in the dugout and on the field as Boston's manager, one of them in which he hugged Martinez.

He received a standing ovation and remained in his dugout. He waved his left hand and patted his heart with his right hand.

"I was honored and I was also thrilled that they showed Cashie, Mike Aviles, Matt, Rich Hill and then Millsie standing next to me may be my best friend in life," Francona said. "So to share that was pretty awesome."

Francona said he hadn't spent time thinking how the fans might react.

"These are some of the best fans in the world," he said. "If you like baseball, this is a good place to be and I got to be a part of that. I feel very fortunate."

Francona actually managed as a Fenway visitor while with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997-2000, going 4-4. This season, the Red Sox swept the Indians in a three-game series at Cleveland from April 16-18.

Francona had been back at Fenway several times last year. He returned with ESPN and for the 100th anniversary celebration of the park on April 20.

Among the bigger cheers that day was the chant of "Tito!" that greeted him. He had been angered by a newspaper article revealing details about personal troubles during the 2011 season and said he would not attend but then relented.

"He did a lot to really put Red Sox baseball back on top of the world," Masterson said. "Everyone here loved him. Everyone on our team loves him. And everyone in Cleveland loves him. He's just an incredible guy."

On Thursday, he visited with clubhouse attendants and Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick. He spoke with his good friend John Farrell, who took over as Boston manager after Bobby Valentine was fired following a last-place finish in which the team went 69-93.

Aviles ended up in Cleveland after being traded by Toronto. The Blue Jays had obtained him to allow Boston to hire Farrell, who had been their manager.

"It is a great opportunity to play for Tito again," Aviles said. "You couldn't ask for a better manager."

Francona said he hasn't changed much since he managed the Red Sox, although the year off refreshed him.

But his goal remains the same, no matter which dugout he manages from just win.

"Every game I've ever been here I've never rooted against the Red Sox," he said. "Now I will be."

Twitter Inc said on Wednesday that it had started rolling out an optional two-step authentication regime for its users to thwart hackers.

The Associated Press, Britain's Financial Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers have all previously succumbed to attacks from the self-styled Syrian Electronic Army.

ITV's London news Twitter account @itvlondon was hijacked on Friday afternoon and used to promote spoof stories about Syrian rebels, before the hackers tweeted "Just kidding. The Syrian Electronic Army was here. #SEA via @Official_SEA12."

One of the hackers' tweets linked to a newspaper story headlined: "In battle against hackers like the Syrian Electronic Army, Twitter introduces extra security measures."

ITV, Britain's largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, said on its national Twitter account that it was aware that it had been infiltrated and it was working to return to normal service as soon as possible.

An ITV spokesman said: "The ITV News London Twitter account was compromised for a short time but has now been secured and the Tweets have been deleted."

The spokesman said the security breach was triggered by a phishing email. He did not know if the new authentication system was in place on the account hacked.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle. Editing by Jane Merriman)

The National Basketball Association (NBA) team will ask the league's board of governors in July to approve changing the franchise's name to Charlotte Hornets effective with the 2014-15 season, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan said on Tuesday.

Charlotte's original NBA team enjoyed sellout crowds as the Hornets between 1988-2002 before then-owner George Shinn moved the franchise to New Orleans.

With the New Orleans team recently changing its nickname to the Pelicans, Jordan said it was time the Bobcats, who began play as an expansion franchise in 2004, brought back the Hornets' moniker.

"We believe that making this change would not only re-establish one of the most recognized brands in sports but would also unify our fan base by bringing together our loyal Bobcats fans with those who have fond memories of our city's NBA predecessor," the Hall of Fame player said in a statement. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; editing by Julian Linden)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carmelo Anthony's scoring prowess has powered the New York Knicks all season but he may need someone to fill the role of sidekick in order to stave off playoff elimination against the Indiana Pacers.

With defensive-minded Indiana focused on stopping Anthony, a potent second option could swing the balance as the Knicks seek a win on Saturday that would extend the Eastern Conference semi-finals to a decisive seventh game on Monday in New York.

J.R. Smith filled the role most of the season, earning Sixth Man of the Year honors in the process, but he has been ice cold since a one-game suspension for throwing an elbow during the opening-round series against the Boston Celtics.

A new contender emerged Thursday when New York extended the series with an 85-75 Game Five win over the visiting Pacers as 29-year-old rookie Chris Copeland sank 3-of-4 from three-point range to tally 13 points and provide a jolt of offense.

The 6-foot-8 (2.03m) Copeland was signed by the Knicks off an impressive performance at the 2012 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas after stops in pro leagues in Belgium, Germany and Spain.

"I am extremely excited that I had some impact on the game," said Copeland, who played his college basketball in Colorado. "I hope I can do it again next game."

Center Tyson Chandler took notice of the spark he generated.

"Copeland just has a knack for scoring," Chandler said. "Anytime you get him in the game he's going to make something good happen offensively. He came up huge for us."

Indiana, of course, knows the way New York would like to operate on offense.

"Anytime you have a scorer like Carmelo it frees up other things for other guys," said Pacers top scorer Paul George, who has drawn the assignment of guarding Anthony.

"They looked to be aggressive and attack but again it is because of how well Carmelo scores the ball. He did a good job of drawing attention and the rest of the team did a good job of knocking down those shots," he said about the Game Five result.

Copeland, still treated as a fresh-faced rookie despite approaching his 30th birthday and made to tote around a pink plastic Dora the Explorer tote bag as part of his hazing, said he was confident he could contribute.

"I can help us spread the floor and get guys away from the basket," he said. "I think I can help Melo get opportunities on the block and get space for J.R.

"It is going to take a team effort for us to get over the hump and get out of this hole. It is going to take more than the first five," added Copeland, who along with his bench-mates outscored the Indiana reserves 35-10 in Thursday's victory.

Smith, who averaged 14.2 points in the regular season, showed signs of coming out of his funk, scoring 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting in Game Five.

Rumors had swirled about Smith's state of mind on Thursday after recording artist Rihanna, pictured with him this week at a New York night club and once linked romantically with the hoops star in the gossip pages, used social media to say Smith has been hungover from late night partying during the playoffs.

"All I know is he was ready to play yesterday," Knicks coach Mike Woodson told ESPN Radio on Friday.

"It would be a great opportunity for him to step up tomorrow and help us get it done."

Anthony said he still had faith in Smith.

"It is encouraging to see J.R. playing basketball and putting everything aside at this point," said Anthony. "It seems like he is finding his way to get off that island, what we call a shooting struggle. J.R. is a big part of our team's success."

Said Smith: "I still didn't shoot my best. Hopefully the little bit of rhythm I did get carries over."

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

Attorney Brad Bailey, disclosing his defense for the first time, made his assertion after a prosecutor said he will prove a cold-case murder allegation against Christian Gerhartsreiter, a German immigrant who spent years moving through U.S. society under a series of aliases, most notoriously posing as a member of the fabled Rockefeller family.

The prosecution's opening statement offered no suggestion of a motive for the 1985 killing. It focused instead on the many identities and fabulous assertions of a man who posed for decades as Clark Rockefeller.

Bailey responded that every piece of circumstantial evidence outlined by Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian could point to Linda Sohus as the killer of her husband, John.

She vanished at the same time that he did in 1985 but no trace of her has been found. John Sohus' bones were dug up from the backyard of a home where Gerhartsreiter lived as a tenant on Sohus' mother's property.

Bailey said there are no witnesses to the killing or burial of Sohus and prosecutors have little more evidence than the bizarre behavior and multiple identities of Gerhartsreiter to paint him as a murderer.

"It's just as reasonable to conclude that John Sohus was killed by someone else...his still missing wife," said Bailey.

If jurors accept that theory, he said, that provides reasonable doubt of Gerhartsreiter's guilt.

He acknowledged that the defendant was "a strange guy," but he said Linda Sohus also acted strangely and may have had a motive to kill her husband.

The prosecution's outline, however, offered a web of circumstantial evidence.

Balian told of how Gerhartsreiter came to the United States, began inventing new identities and charmed his way into the lives of people from coast to coast.

At issue is what happened to the Sohus couple who befriended him in 1985 and vanished shortly afterward. The young husband's bones were eventually unearthed from his backyard decades later, but his wife has never been found.

Gerhartsreiter,52, has pleaded not guilty to the killing of John Sohus, a 27-year-old computer programmer.

Anticipating the defense theory, Balian told jurors: "Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will show that John and Linda Sohus are dead."

The most mysterious evidence is a series of postcards from Linda Sohus sent to friends and family from Paris after she disappeared. The handwriting was analyzed as hers, but the stamps which were subject to DNA analysis were licked by a man who wasn't Gerhartsreiter, the prosecutor said.

Balian said that police earlier this year found a storage locker rented by Gerhartsreiter in Baltimore. Inside, they found postcards from international cities.

A possible explanation, said Balian, is that "the defendant has someone in Europe who mails postcards for him."

The prosecution's case is based on a bag of bones found buried at the property and the fuzzy memories of residents of San Marino, a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. The residents knew the defendant as Chris Chichester.

Testimony was to begin Tuesday.

A gaunt, bespectacled Gerhartsreiter listened quietly on Monday as Balian connected the dots of the defendant's later life.

Balian depicted him as a fabulist, a liar who made up extravagant stories about being a famous film director, the heir to a South African fortune and a descendant of British royalty. The defendant passed around business cards announcing himself as the 13th Baronet of England and once used the name Mountbatten, he said.

When police began asking questions about him, linking him to a truck owned by the Sohuses, he abandoned his $100,000 a year job as a Wall Street bond trader and went into hiding.

He was close to the end of a prison term for the kidnapping of his young daughter in a Boston custody dispute when the murder charge interrupted his chance to regain his freedom.