NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc conspired with publishers to raise the price of e-books in a scheme costing consumers "hundreds of millions of dollars," a U.S. government lawyer said on Monday.

A three-week trial got under way before a federal judge in New York in a case pitting the Justice Department against the popular iPad and iPhone maker that could shine a light on the secretive Silicon Valley giant's business practices.

"Apple told publishers that Apple - and only Apple - could get prices up in their industry," Lawrence Buterman, a lawyer at the Justice Department, said during opening arguments.

The trial came more than a year after the Department sued Apple and five of the largest U.S. publishing houses, accusing them of working together illegally to increase e-book prices and undo Amazon.com Inc's market control.

Orin Snyder, an attorney for Apple, described the case as "bizarre." Apple acted in its own business interests in negotiating deals with publishers in the run up to the debut of its iPad in January 2010, he said.

"What the government wants to do is reverse engineer a conspiracy from a market effect," Snyder said.

Apple is going to trial alone after the five publishers agreed to eliminate prohibitions on wholesale discounts and to pay a collective $164 million to benefit consumers.

The five publishers were Pearson Plc's Penguin Group, News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and MacMillan.

The U.S. government is not seeking damages, but instead an order blocking Apple from engaging in similar conduct. However, if Apple is found liable, it could still face damages in a separate trial by 33 state attorneys general, who would seek civil penalties on behalf of consumers.

'TENTATIVE VIEW'

The non-jury trial is proceeding before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who gave a "tentative view" at the last hearing before trial that she thought the Justice Department might win.

"I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books," Cote said on May 23.

During opening arguments, Snyder expressed Apple's "concern" about the comment, adding later, "all we want is a fair trial." Cote retorted that she made her comments only after the Justice Department and Apple asked for her view, which was based on hundreds of documents submitted in advance of trial.

"The deck is not stacked against Apple unless the evidence stacks against Apple," Cote said.

The case has its origins in concerns by publishers that had emerged by 2009 about low prices for best-seller and new e-books sold by Amazon, which launched its Kindle e-reader in 2007.

Amazon, which by that time sold up to 90 percent of all e-books, was buying e-books wholesale and then discounting them, selling new and best-selling books for $9.99, sometimes at a loss.

Buterman, the government's lawyer, said publishers became increasingly dissatisfied with those prices, which they considered too low. They tried a number of tactics, increasingly in parallel, to fight Amazon's pricing model.

Those tactics were unsuccessful, though, until Apple entered the market, he said.

Apple acted as a facilitator for the publishers, enabling them to reach agreements that would move their industry to an agency model, in which publishers set the price and Apple took a fixed 30 percent cut, Buterman said.

Buterman cited former Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, telling his biographer that, "we told the publishers, 'We'll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30 percent, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that's what you want anyway.'"

Buterman said, "Overall, average prices of e-books went up, costing consumers millions of dollars."

'MAKES NO SENSE'

Apple's Snyder called the government's story a "fiction" saying many of Job's emails and statements the prosecution will show will be taken out of context.

As for the agency model, Snyder said there was nothing wrong with it. He said both Amazon and Barnes & Noble Inc considered it before Apple did.

"Agency is good and beneficial to consumers and markets," he said.

Moreover, Snyder said data showed that in the wake of Apple's entry into the market, average e-book prices fell instead of increasing. In court papers, Apple said prices fell from $7.97 to $7.34.

The case is United States v. Apple Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-02826.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Eddie Evans and Leslie Gevirtz)

Pyongyang, which wants to meet Sunday in its border city of Kaesong, also said it would reopen a Red Cross communication line with South Korea in their truce village later Friday. During a weeks-long period of animosity marked by a string of North Korean threats of war and South Korean vows of counterstrikes, the North in March shut down the communication line used for exchanging messages on humanitarian issues.

The statement Friday by the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles relations with Seoul, followed the countries' agreement a day earlier to hold talks on issues including reopening a jointly run industrial complex in Kaesong that had been the last symbol of inter-Korean cooperation before it closed this spring.

South Korea had suggested holding high-level ministerial talks in Seoul on Wednesday, but Pyongyang said lower-level talks are needed first because "bilateral relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity." The North's statement did not say whether it would accept ministerial-level talks Wednesday following a weekend meeting in Kaesong.

Officials in Seoul said it wasn't yet clear what proposed talks Sunday would focus on if they happen. Such meetings in the past have involved lower-level officials charged with ironing out administrative details and reporting back to their bosses. The next step would be higher-level talks.

The last government-level contact between the Koreas on their peninsula took place in February 2011 at the truce village of Panmunjom, according to the South's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korea issues.

The mood on the Korean Peninsula has been tense since North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died in December 2011 and his son, Kim Jong Un, took over. Pyongyang, which is estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices, has committed a drumbeat of acts over the last year that Washington, Seoul and others deem provocative.

The proposed talks could represent a change in North Korea's approach, analysts said, or could simply be an effort to ease international demands that it end its development of nuclear weapons, a topic crucial to Washington but not a part of envisioned inter-Korean meetings.

Pyongyang understands that dialogue with Seoul is a precondition for any meaningful talks with the United States, and the North's latest overtures are aimed at creating a mood that could lead to U.S.-North Korea negotiations, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea expert at Korea University in South Korea.

Because Pyongyang needs talks with Washington to win aid and security guarantees, "realistically, the North doesn't have a choice" in pursuing talks with Seoul. "Its relations with the United States can't improve while its relations with South Korea remain tense," Yoo said.

If the Koreas meet Sunday in Kaesong, the talks will come on the heels of a high-profile summit Friday by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama in which North Korea is expected to be a key topic. Xi is also scheduled to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye later this month.

Beijing, which is Pyongyang's only major economic and political ally, has expressed growing frustration with its neighbor, tightening inspections on cross-border trade and halting business with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank. But Beijing, worried about its own economy and a possible influx of refugees, also views stability in Pyongyang as crucial.

The proposals for dialogue by the Koreas follow a meeting late last month in Beijing by Xi and the North Korean military's top political officer, who reportedly expressed a willingness to "launch dialogue with all relevant parties."

Kwak Sok Gyong, a Pyongyang resident, told The Associated Press that the North's announcement "reflects what people want in both north and south. I think the relations between north and south should be improved as soon as possible."

In Seoul, Park Gyeong-hyun, a 17-year-old student, said the Koreas have many unresolved problems, such as families separated by the Korean War six decades ago. "So I view the talks as a positive thing because the relationship between the two Koreas will get better if the talks go well."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday that Washington supports improved inter-Korean relations but cautioned that it doesn't signal progress on restarting talks on North Korea's nuclear program. For that to happen, North Korea has to abide by its previous commitments to abandon its nuclear weapons, she said.

In April 2012, Pyongyang scuttled a nuclear and humanitarian aid deal with the U.S. by launching a rocket that was viewed as an effort to test its long-range missile technology. In December it launched another long-range rocket; in February it conducted its third nuclear test, and in March and April it issued a torrent of threats, including vows of nuclear and missile strikes on the United States and South Korea.

But the shutdown of the Kaesong industrial complex was perhaps the biggest blow to relations with Seoul. It closed gradually after Pyongyang cut border communications and access in March and then pulled the complex's 53,000 North Korean workers in April. The last South Korean managers at Kaesong left last month.

More than 120 South Korean companies operated at the complex, which gave them access to cheap North Korean labor. It was also a rare source of hard currency for North Korea, though the economically depressed country chafed at suggestions that it needed the money Kaesong generated.

North and South Korea agreed Thursday to talks not only about Kaesong but about other defunct inter-Korean endeavors such as cross-border tours and reunions between North Korean and South Korean family members.

The talks would be the first government-level negotiations between the Koreas since President Park took office in February with a North Korea policy meant to reach out to Pyongyang to build trust while remaining firm on not tolerating provocations.

Relations dropped to their lowest level in years under her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, and the first 100 days of Park's administration tested her proposed policy as Pyongyang threatened to carry out nuclear attacks and to close Kaesong.

Pyongyang was enraged by United Nations Security Council sanctions over its most recent rocket launch and nuclear test and annual U.S.-South Korean military drills.

The Koreas have technically been in a state of war for 60 years because the Korean War ended in 1953 with a truce and not a peace treaty. The last reunions of Korean families pulled apart by that war were held in 2010.

A total of 132 IRS officials received room upgrades at the 2010 conference in Anaheim, Calif., according to the report being released by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

One official stayed five nights in a room that regularly goes for $3,500 a night, George's report said, and another stayed four nights in a room that regularly goes for $1,499 a night. The agency paid a flat daily fee of $135 per hotel room, it said, but the upgrades were part of a package deal that added to the overall cost of the conference. Without the upgrades, the IRS could have negotiated a lower room rate, as required by agency procedures.

The inspector general's report was surfacing as the IRS came under fire again in connection with its targeting of conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the IG report ahead of its release.

In all, the IRS held 225 employee conferences from 2010 through 2012, at a total cost of $49 million, the report said. The Anaheim conference was the most expensive, but others were costly, too.

In 2010, for instance, the agency held a conference in Philadelphia that cost $2.9 million, one in San Diego that cost $1.2 million, and one in Atlanta that also cost $1.2 million.

Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has called the conferences "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era." Werfel took over the agency about two weeks ago, after President Barack Obama forced the previous acting commissioner to resign.

For more than 18 months during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns, IRS agents in a Cincinnati office singled out tea party and other conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they sought tax-exempt status, according to a previous report by George.

The report issued last month said tea party groups were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, their political affiliations and their positions on political issues. The additional scrutiny delayed applications for an average of nearly two years, making it difficult for many of the groups to raise money.

On Tuesday, leaders of conservative groups complained to Congress that they were abused by the Internal Revenue Service for years as they sought tax-exempt status, including questions one Iowa anti-abortion group said it got about prayer meetings.

The testimony of the tea party and other conservative organizations before the House Ways and Means Committee was the first time groups complaining about the IRS's treatment have appeared directly before lawmakers since the IRS revealed the problem and apologized for it last month. They talked about applications for tax-exempt status that took three years for approval or in some cases haven't yet been approved and queries from the agency about the identity of their donors, video of meetings and whether speakers at such gatherings expressed political views.

"I'm a born-free American woman," Becky Gerritson, president of the Wetumpka Tea Party in Alabama, tearfully told the committee, adding, "I'm telling my government, you've forgotten your place."

Sue Martinek, president of the Coalition for Life of Iowa, an anti-abortion group, said the IRS asked them about "the content of our prayers."

"As Christians, we know we needed to pray for better solutions for unplanned pregnancies," she said.

The president of another group, the National Organization for Marriage, said the IRS publicly disclosed confidential information about donors. George Eastman said he thought the IRS's release of that information was designed to intimidate contributors to the group which opposes same-sex marriage "to chill them from donating again."

At Tuesday's Ways and Means hearing, committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said the conservative groups were being singled out for their beliefs.

"They are Americans who did what we ask people to do every day add their voice to the dialogue that defines our country," Camp said. "And for pursuing that passion, for simply exercising their First Amendment rights the freedoms of association, expression and religion the IRS singled them out."

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin, said it was time to correct the IRS's problems.

"You are owed an apology," Levin, from Michigan, told the witnesses. "We say to you that each of us is committed to doing our part to ensure this does not happen again."

The leader of a small South Carolina tea party group said her organization first applied for tax-exempt status in 2010 and is still waiting for the application to be processed.

"Nearly three years in waiting for an answer is totally unacceptable," said Dianne Belsom, president of the Laurens County Tea Party. "The IRS needs to be fully investigated and held accountable for its incompetence harassment and targeting of conservative groups."

Belsom said her group in rural South Carolina has about 60 members and "seeks to educate ourselves and fellow citizens on various issues pertinent to living in a free country." The group also holds candidate forums in election years, she said.

"I'd like to note that our group is a small-time operation with very little money and this represents a complete waste of time by the IRS in terms of any money they would collect if we were not tax-exempt," Belsom said.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House veto threats against legislation that implements spending cuts in the austere GOP budget plan are "reckless" and would lead to a government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said the veto warnings mean Obama is threatening to shut down the government unless he wins tax increases and higher spending.

The White House said Monday that Obama will veto any legislation implementing the GOP's budget, which endorses spending levels forced by across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration and shifts about $30 billion from nondefense programs to the Pentagon.

"No one wants to make more progress on deficits than I do. I've been working at it for years now. I know how hard it is," Boehner said. "That's why the idea of shutting down the government if we can't find a deal is so irresponsible."

But even with a budget impasse, a government shutdown could be averted if Congress approved separate stopgap legislation. Such measures, known as continuing resolutions, are routine, and there hasn't been a government shutdown since the 1995-96 confrontation between President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress.

The two sides finessed their differences earlier this year by agreeing to a catchall spending bill permitting $1.043 trillion for agency operations funded annually by Congress. Across-the-board cuts automatically reduced spending to $986 billion and could be implemented again if the ongoing budget impasse isn't broken.

Republicans are drafting spending bills for the upcoming budget year at a lower $967 billion cap. The White House supports a level $91 billion higher.

"We simply won't sign into law the Republican budget, which would drastically slash the investments the middle class, seniors and our economic growth depend on," said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "It's time for Speaker Boehner to match his promises of an end to manufactured crises with actions."

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC disputed a decision by U.S. regulators to recall 2.7 million older model Jeep vehicles for safety problems, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the conclusion is based on an "incomplete analysis of the underlying data."

Chrysler, which is majority-owned by Fiat, said it does not intend to recall the SUVs and insisted that they are safe.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sought to recall the Jeep Grand Cherokee for model years 1993 to 2004 and the Jeep Liberty model years 2002 to 2007. The agency said the models have fuel tanks behind the axle, which leave them less protected in the event of a rear-end collision and could potentially cause a fuel leak and lead to fire in those vehicles.

"The company stands behind the quality of its vehicles," Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said in a statement. "All of us remain committed to continue working with NHTSA to provide information confirming the safety of these vehicles."

In a June 3 letter sent to Chrysler, NHTSA said its investigation revealed "numerous fire-related deaths and injuries, fires that did not lead to deaths and fuel leaks in rear impacts."

In the 13-page letter, NHTSA said that 51 people have been killed in rear-end crashes and fires involving Grand Cherokee and Liberty vehicles.

NHTSA had no immediate comment on Tuesday regarding Chrysler's resistance to a recall.

Chrysler has until June 18 to formally respond to NHTSA. If Chrysler cannot convince NHTSA to drop the recall request, the safety agency could hold a public hearing on the matter.

Eventually, the administrator of NHTSA may issue a final decision and order Chrysler to conduct a recall. Even after that, Chrysler can challenge that order in federal court. NHTSA can take Chrysler to court to comply with the recall order. And, Chrysler may be forced to send letters to owners of the affected vehicles that it is resisting NHTSA's recall order.

Chrysler has been working with NHTSA on this issue for nearly three years. NHTSA asked for the recall Monday night.

The company said its analysis shows that fuel leaks and fires occur "less than one time for every million years of vehicle operation."

In the past several years, Chrysler has conducted 52 recalls, 49 of which were instigated by the automaker. The last time Chrysler refused to recall a vehicle was in 1997.

It is unusual for automakers to challenge the agency on such safety issues. Toyota Motor Corp initially resisted the recall of its 2010 Prius hybrid for brake problems.

Ford Motor Co recalled its Freestar and Monterey minivans for transmission problems last year after years of haggling with NHTSA.

(Editing by Bernard Orr)

The latest in a string of celebrities to put their stamp on a prepaid card, Orman will likely avoid the criticism about high fees lobbed at earlier offerings, such as those of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and reality show stars the Kardashians. Orman's card costs $3 to obtain, and then just $3 a month, rivaling the hugely popular Walmart MoneyCard.

Although some will question how Orman will recoup the more than $1 million she has invested in the card when charging that little, the real twist isn't the low fee structure. Orman is working with credit reporting agency TransUnion to create a new kind of credit score for users of "The Approved" prepaid MasterCard, one that's based on their spending habits.

Right now, using debit cards both the prepaid kind and those tied to bank accounts does not influence an individual's credit score, which is calculated with data related to borrowing. If Orman's experiment is successful, this new type of score could be a game-changer for the estimated 60 million Americans who do most or all of their personal business in cash or with cash alternatives like prepaid cards.

The TV adviser said she approached several companies, urging them to agree to develop such a score, and TransUnion ultimately agreed to gather spending data for 18 to 24 months. It will use that data to try to come up with a formula that works as a way to predict whether the user is a good risk for lenders.

"This is truthfully a work in progress," said Orman.

Banks and other lenders are interested in creating ways to measure how prepaid cards are used, because of the huge market they represent. Consumers loaded an estimated $70.7 billion onto prepaid cards in 2011, up from $2.7 billion in 2005, according to consultancy Mercator Advisory Group.

Mercator projects the market will top $120 billion this year if adoption continues at the same pace.

In general, users can be divided into three groups. The first subset is those caught up in the economy people who had good credit until it was damaged by events like unemployment or foreclosure. Second are those who have not yet built credit histories, mainly the young and recent immigrants. The third group avoids banks, often because of negative experiences, such as racking up high overdraft fees.

"Wouldn't it be fabulous if, for the first time in history, people are literally rewarded for spending cash, versus penalized, in my opinion, for doing so?" Orman said.

The problem with traditional credit scores from FICO Inc. and its competitors is that they measure how well individuals keep up with their payments, but don't pay any attention to their overall financial health, she said. "Scoring doesn't question where the money is coming from to make payments."

Prepaid cards have already filled some of the void for those who don't use banks, especially because they can be used to receive paychecks via direct deposit. But because they don't contribute to credit scores, the cards can't help users get a mortgage, a car loan or a credit card.

Not having a credit score, or having a low one, also drives up the cost of living in other ways. Lower scores can mean higher car insurance rates, higher rent, difficulty getting a job and paying higher interest rates for any credit available. People with little credit history known as a "thin file" in the industry are also the most likely to use alternative services like payday lenders, check cashing stores and bill pay services. These are expensive options when compared with credit cards and banks.

FICO Inc. and other companies use data tied to borrowing to determine a score meant to measure the likelihood an individual will pay back future loans. FICO's 300-to-850 scale is based on an individual's history making payments on loans, the percentage of available credit that is being used and how long the individual has used credit, among other data.

Those with thin credit files have a better chance of having their creditworthiness reflected by FICO's "expansion score," which factors in data like utility bill payments and rent payments. FICO CEO Mark Greene said the expansion scores have shown that the population without traditional scores mirrors to the larger population in terms of credit risk. Other credit score providers are beginning to provide measures based on utility payments and other nontraditional data.

One big difference for developing a prepaid score, however, is that these alternatives still measure how well individuals meet obligations, not how they spend the rest of their income.

"Spending is not actually a great indicator of the thing that we're trying to measure, which is the likelihood you're going to pay your bill," Greene said. "We need to be careful about how we approach that issue."

Another issue a prepaid-linked score must address is the fact that the typical reloadable card is used for just three to four months, said Brian Riley, who analyzes the card market for the consultant The Tower Group.

That timeframe is likely to expand, however, because more users are beginning to have their paychecks deposited to reload prepaid cards. Adding rewards and services, and cutting fees, may also increase customer loyalty.

Orman is adamant that her card will carry only a $3-per-month fee for users who load at least $20 per month onto it. Fees will rise only if the user uses ATMs outside the network it is linked to when withdrawing cash. Consumers who use The Approved Card will also get daily text messages updating their balance, along with one after each purchase, and other free services like ID theft monitoring, credit monitoring and free credit reports from TransUnion.

The media star, whose new show on the Oprah Winfrey Network premieres Monday, said she knows creating the score will be an uphill battle, but believes that if successful, it will help both lenders and borrowers. "You've got to start it somewhere, and this is the beginning of that process."

"Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's five-justice majority.

But the four dissenting justices said that the court was allowing a major change in police powers.

"Make no mistake about it: because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason," conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said in a sharp dissent which he read aloud in the courtroom. "This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane surely the TSA must know the 'identity' of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children's DNA when they start public school."

Twenty-eight states and the federal government now take DNA swabs after arrests. But a Maryland court was one of the first to say that it was illegal for that state to take Alonzo King's DNA without approval from a judge, saying King had "a sufficiently weighty and reasonable expectation of privacy against warrantless, suspicionless searches" under the Fourth Amendment.

But the high court's decision reverses that ruling and reinstates King's rape conviction, which came after police took his DNA during an unrelated arrest. Kennedy wrote the decision, and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Scalia was joined in his dissent by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the court's ruling created "a gaping new exception to the Fourth Amendment."

"The Fourth Amendment has long been understood to mean that the police cannot search for evidence of a crime and all nine justices agreed that DNA testing is a search without individualized suspicion," said Steven R. Shapiro, the group's legal director. "Today's decision eliminates that crucial safeguard. At the same time, it's important to recognize that other state laws on DNA testing are even broader than Maryland's and may present issues that were not resolved by today's ruling."

Maryland's DNA collection law only allows police to take DNA from those arrested for serious crimes like murder, rape, assault, burglary and other crimes of violence. In his ruling, Kennedy did not say whether the court's decision limits DNA only to those crimes, but he did note that other states' DNA collection laws differ from Maryland's.

Scalia saw that as a flaw. "If you believe that a DNA search will identify someone arrested for bank robbery, you must believe that it will identify someone arrested for running a red light," he said.

The ruling was praised by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

"DNA has already aided nearly 200,000 investigations, and thanks to today's decision it will continue to be a detective's most valuable tool in solving rape cases," said Scott Berkowitz, the group's president and founder. "We're very pleased that the court recognized the importance of DNA and decided that, like fingerprints, it can be collected from arrestees without violating any privacy rights. Out of every 100 rapes in this country, only three rapists will spend a day behind bars. To make matters worse, rapists tend to be serial criminals, so every one left on the streets is likely to commit still more attacks. DNA is a tool we could not afford to lose."

Getting DNA swabs from criminals is common. All 50 states and the federal government take cheek swabs from convicted criminals to check against federal and state databanks, with the court's blessing. The fight at the Supreme Court was over whether that DNA collection could come before conviction and without a judge issuing a warrant.

According to court documents, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System or CODIS a coordinated system of federal, state and local databases of DNA profiles already contains more than 10 million criminal profiles and 1.1 million profiles of those arrested. According to the FBI, DNA from people who have gotten the charge dismissed, who were acquitted or from whom no charges were brought are supposed to be expunged from the federal system. But states and other municipalities that collect DNA make their own rules about what happens to their collection.

Kennedy called collecting DNA useful for police in identifying individuals.

"The use of DNA for identification is no different than matching an arrestee's face to a wanted poster of a previously unidentified suspect; or matching tattoos to known gang symbols to reveal a criminal affiliation; or matching the arrestee's fingerprints to those recovered from a crime scene," Kennedy said. "DNA is another metric of identification used to connect the arrestee with his or her public persona, as reflected in records of his or her actions that are available to police."

In the case before the court, a 53-year-old woman was raped and robbed but no one was arrested. Almost six years later, Alonzo King was arrested and charged with felony second-degree assault. Taking advantage of the Maryland law that allowed warrantless DNA tests following some felony arrests, police took a cheek swab of King's DNA, which matched a sample from the 2003 Salisbury rape. King was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison.

King eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault from his arrest, a crime for which Maryland cannot take warrantless DNA samples. The state courts said it violated King's rights for the state to take his DNA based on an arrest alone. The state Court of Appeals said King had "a sufficiently weighty and reasonable expectation of privacy against warrantless, suspicionless searches." But the high court's decision reinstates King's conviction.

Maryland stopped collecting DNA after that decision, but Roberts allowed police to keep collecting DNA samples pending the high court's review.

The case is Maryland v. King, 12-207.

___

On The Net:

The FBI's frequently asked questions about its DNA databases: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet

I have just learned that my ex is having a baby boy with a woman he has stated he does not love and isn't even in a committed relationship with. I would like to protect Mandy from any pain this might cause her because she is a Daddy's girl.

How should I deal with this and maintain my composure regarding the sibling who will now forever be a part of my daughter's life (and mine)? -- STRESSED OUT IN SAN DIEGO

DEAR STRESSED OUT: It is not appropriate to show your disgust with this situation to your daughter. Because your ex has gone on record that he doesn't love the woman he impregnated, and he is not in a committed relationship with her, you may be worrying needlessly. He will have a financial obligation to his son, but whether he's willing to be a father in the best sense of the word we don't know.

If Mandy interacts with her half brother she will have to learn to share, which is an important life lesson every child must learn sooner or later.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 40-something divorced female. After my divorce I met a man I enjoyed being with. He led me to believe he cared for me and I bought into it. It was a vulnerable time for me and, unfortunately, I let my guard down. I did something stupid and co-signed for a student loan for him. He has stopped making payments, has blocked my calls, moved, etc., and now I'm stuck with the financial burden.

I have learned that he had a fiancee while we were involved and they are now married. Abby, he was bilking me the whole time.

I need to know what legal recourse I have. I know where he lives and possibly where he works, so if he needs to be served with papers, he can be found. I regret that I didn't keep my guard up, and I don't feel he should get away with this. What should I do now? -- LET MY GUARD DOWN IN OHIO

DEAR LET YOUR GUARD DOWN: It appears you have been the victim of a fraud. If I were you, the first thing I'd do is share his address with the loan company. Then I'd discuss this matter with the police to find out if he has a history of bilking women and if I could file charges. If that isn't possible, the next thing I'd do is talk with a lawyer about any legal remedies available to me. And that's what I'm advising you to do.

DEAR ABBY: I work in the media and meet a lot of people. I have arthritis in my hands. I have always believed in a firm handshake, but I'm finding that receiving one is crippling my hand. I don't want to appear unfriendly by not reciprocating a handshake, but I don't want my hand to ache for hours on end after meeting someone. Any suggestions? -- HURTING IN DOVER, DEL.

DEAR HURTING: It would not be unfriendly to simply say, "It's nice to meet you, but I can't shake hands because I have arthritis." Many people do, and it's the truth.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plan helped offset shrinking personal computer sales with enterprise computing services.

While fiscal second-quarter profit plummeted 32 percent, Wall Street had braced for worse. HP shares gained 14 percent after the company projected full-year earnings per share of $3.50 to $3.60, raising the lower end by 10 cents, and fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates.

Whitman, who took the helm at the world's largest PC maker more than a year ago, is orchestrating a turnaround, trying to recapture some of the Silicon Valley icon's former strong growth. She has said the process could take years.

HP received a warmer welcome from investors for its results than smaller rival Dell Inc, which last week reported a 79 percent slide in profit and is now mired in a takeover battle between founder Michael Dell and activist investor Carl Icahn.

"This is another good deposit on the road to our turnaround here," HP Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said in an interview. "We are roughly where we want to be in total on the company."

Enterprise services and printing units are "probably a little bit ahead," she said, adding the two businesses helped drive the company's gross margin improvement during the quarter.

HP's net income fell to $1.08 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $1.59 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.

The company earned 87 cents per share on an operating basis during the second quarter on revenue of $27.6 billion.

HP had been expected to post earnings of 81 cents a share on revenue of just over $28 billion, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For its fiscal third quarter, it estimated non-GAAP earnings per share of 84 to 87 cents, higher than 83 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.

Its shares, which have climbed 51 percent in 2013 as investors gradually gained confidence in its prospects, rose 13 percent to $24.08 in extended trading after closing at $21.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

STEEP DECLINE IN PC SALES

HP, whose name is synonymous with the birth of Silicon Valley, has suffered years of turbulence. Whitman became HP's third CEO in as many years after Leo Apotheker's abrupt dismissal.

She is now pushing layoffs, cost cutting, and expansion into markets and areas with longer-term potential such as enterprise computing services. The move, intended to bolster margins, pits HP against the likes of IBM.

HP is laying off 29,000 employees over the next two years and has written off $10.8 billion mostly related to the writedown of its EDS services business.

Lesjak said so far the company had reduced 18,800 jobs and intends to cut a total of 26,000 by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the company reported that revenue fell across HP's main business divisions, with the steepest decline in the personal systems group. Sales from HP's largest, PC-focused unit dived 20 percent to $7.58 billion.

But that same division recorded a 3.2 percent operating margin, up from about 2.7 percent in the previous quarter, as the company focused on improving profitability.

The printing division had the smallest revenue decline, of 1 percent, year over year, but the company said it had a "strong operating margin" of 15.8 percent.

HP generated $3.6 billion in cash flow during the quarter and used some of the funds to reduce net debt by $1.8 billion to $2.9 billion. The company had $13.6 billion in gross cash at the end of the quarter.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang and David Gregorio)

NEW YORK Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is a rising star Republican who has irked even members of his own party with his conservative views on immigration reform and gun control.

But Cruz made no mention of those hot-button topics in his official debut on the New York political stage Wednesday, using a speech before the state GOP to encourage Republicans to be optimistic about their partys future and to continue the fight for economic growth and freedom because the nations future depends on it.

It is very easy for Republicans to feel demoralized right now but change happens fast, like lightning in politics, Cruz declared during a 35-minute speech at a packed fundraising dinner for the Republican Party of New York State in Manhattan. But he argued that Republicans could win again by sticking to their ideals.

"I am profoundly optimistic for this country because our ideas work," Cruz said. "Freedom works.

Cruzs speech, which was littered with references to Ronald Reagan and generic calls for the party to stick to its economic principles, seemed aimed at being as non-controversial as possiblea notable move given the furor that preceded the senators appearance here, which included protests from two high-profile New York Republicans.

On Tuesday, Rep. Peter Kingin protest of Cruzs efforts to derail a bill giving federal aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Asked about Kings boycott before he took the stage, Cruz replied, I have not met Mr. King, but I think it is unfortunate he couldnt join us here tonight.

But King wasnt the only holdout. Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican from Staten Island whose district was hard hit by Sandy, skipped the eventthough he insisted . His announcement came after Democrats tried to make an issue of the dinner and called on Grimm to condemn his party for inviting Cruz.

State party officials shrugged off the cancellations. One party official, who declined to be named, trashed King, saying the GOP congressman hasnt attended a state GOP dinner since George Pataki was governor. Meanwhile, Ed Cox, the state GOP chairman, said criticism of Cruz's opposition to the Sandy bill had been misinterpreted. "That was a vote against pork," he said. "It was not against Sandy aid."

Officials also insisted the protests had no impact on ticket sales for the annual dinner. According to NY GOP spokesman David Laska, 500 tickets were sold for the event, raising about $750,000 for the partyabout the same that had been raised at dinners held in previous years.

No impact at all, Laska said of controversy over Cruzs policy positions.

Indeed, many Republicans, who showed up early to wine and dine during a cocktail hour ahead of the speech, waved off criticism over Cruzs appearance. Overblown, one man said, as he took his seat inside a large ballroom at the Grand Hyatt, where the annual dinner was held.

But it was a different story outside, where several dozen people waved signs protesting Cruzs stance on immigration and Sandy aid. Anti-Latino! one sign, featuring a photo of Cruz, said.

Speaking to reporters, Cruz said he hadnt seen the protestors, but welcomed their presence. Its important that we have a civil dialogue on the issues that matter to all of us, Cruz said.

But the senator carefully pushed back against his critics on immigrationthough he did so while trying to offer as little specifics as possible. He told reporters he is fighting for a common sense approach to immigration.

I think the key to actually passing a bill is to focus on areas of bipartisan agreement, Cruz said. He specifically cited securing the border and efforts to expand, improve and streamline legal immigration. Asked if he planned to filibuster an immigration bill championed by President Barack Obama, he declined to answer, saying only that he planned to introduce amendments to improve the bill so that it actually fixes the problem.

The current bill is utterly toothless when it comes to border security, Cruz said.

Asked again if he would filibuster the current Senate bill, Cruz declined to answer, as an aide tried to usher reporters away. This is not a press conference! the aide said, as Cruz turned away from the media.

Introduced as a rising star, Cruz took the stage here to a standing ovation and wild applause from the audience. He bypassed the podium that had been used by speakers ahead of him, and instead wore a wireless microphone as he paced the stage, appearing less like a politician and more like a motivational speaker.

His speech was a boilerplate economic addresshitting on generic themes of free market opportunity and warning about the nations growing federal deficit.

It's morally wrong to bankrupt our country and saddle our children and grandchildren with debt, Cruz declared at one point.

He won tepid applause for a round of jokes about the Justice Departmentjokingly warning attendees that their phones were likely be tapped because they had attended the dinner. But the room went silent as he recounted his own personal story of growing up as the son of a Cuban immigrant who had come to America with nothing but $100 sewn into his underwear and took a job washing dishes for 50 cents an hour while he put himself through school.

My dad has been my hero my entire life, Cruz said. But what I find most incredible about his story is how commonplace it is. Every one of us in this room has a story just like his Every one of us is the child of someone who risked everything for freedom. Thats what it means to be American: Love, liberty and opportunity.

As Cruz continued to speak, a woman seated at a table near the back of the room turned to her husband and mouthed the word, Wow.