MIAMI, June 10 (Reuters) - San Antonio came away from Miami with a split of the NBA Finals' opening two games, but Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said Sunday's crushing 103-84 loss to the Heat in Game Two had taken the gloss off their performance in Florida.

"If you had asked me before heading to Miami I would have said okay, I'll take it. Winning one and losing the other by 20, not a big deal. I'll take it," he told reporters.

"But once you win the first one, you forget about that. Odds are over and you face a new game as if it's a Game Seven and you want to win it, too. Knowing full well that they were going to come hard, they were going to play a better game.

"But we were expecting to do better, that's the frustrating part," he added.

Miami went on a 33-5 run in the second half as the Spurs failed to get to grips with the Heat offense and struggled to convert their own chances.

Ginobili said Miami's comprehensive win would infuse them with confidence.

"Sure if you look at the result, 1-1, it's not bad. But you don't want to play like this in an NBA Finals," he said. "You don't want to give them that much confidence, and you don't want to be feeling bad about yourself.

"In the second half they just ran us over. We didn't move the ball at all. Their pressure really got us on our heels."

San Antonio's 'Big Three' of Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan combined for just 10 of 33, with only 27 points between them.

The Argentine said that had to change. Quickly.

"For sure Tim, Tony and me, we have to step up and play much better," he added. "We have basically no shot at winning a game against them if none of us play good."

Game Three is on Tuesday in San Antonio, the first of three games scheduled for Texas. (Reporting By Simon Evans)

Jeffrey Deskovic (DEH'-skoh-vihch), who was freed in 2006, received his diploma at a graduation ceremony on Tuesday.

Deskovic won $8.3 million for his wrongful imprisonment from New York State and Westchester County. He used some of the money to start the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice to help other innocent people get out of prison.

Deskovic was a teenager when he was charged with killing a Peekskill High School classmate. He was released after DNA linked the 1989 killing to another man.

He's been active in criminal justice reform and anti-death penalty movements since his release.

A prominent expert called the work a landmark, but noted that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.

Stem cells can turn into any cell of the body, so scientists are interested in using them to create tissue for treating disease. Transplanting brain tissue might treat Parkinson's disorder, for example, and pancreatic tissue might be used for diabetes.

But transplants run the risk of rejection, so more than a decade ago, researchers proposed a way around that: Create tissue from stem cells that bear the patient's own DNA, obtained with a process called therapeutic cloning.

If DNA from a patient is put into a human egg, which is then grown into an early embryo, the stem cells from that embryo would provide a virtual genetic match. So in theory, tissues created from them would not be rejected by the patient.

That idea was met with some ethical objections because harvesting the stem cells involved destroying human embryos.

Scientists have tried to get stem cells from cloned human embryos for about a decade, but they've failed. Generally, that's because the embryos stopped developing before producing the cells. In 2004, a South Korean scientist claimed to have gotten stem cells from cloned human embryos, but that turned out to be a fraud.

In Wednesday's edition of the journal Cell, however, scientists in Oregon report harvesting stem cells from six embryos created from donated eggs. Two embryos had been given DNA from skin cells of a child with a genetic disorder, and the others had DNA from fetal skin cells.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University, who led the research, said the success came not from a single technical innovation, but from revising a series of steps in the process. He noted it had taken six years to reach the goal after doing it with monkey embryos.

Mitalipov also said that based on monkey work, he believes human embryos made with the technique could not develop into cloned babies, and he has no interest in trying to do that.Scientists have cloned more than a dozen kinds of mammals, starting with Dolly the sheep.

The new work was financed by the university and the Leducq Foundation in Paris.

Dr. George Daley, a stem cell expert at Children's Hospital Boston who didn't participate in the work, called the new results "one landmark step in a very long journey" toward creating DNA-matched transplant tissue.

Now, Daley said, scientists must compare the embryo-cloning approach with another technology that reprograms blood or skin cells directly into substitutes for embryonic stem cells. This reprogramming approach is technically simpler and doesn't involve embryos or require the donation of human eggs, and it was widely acclaimed when it was reported in 2007. Its Japanese developer shared a Nobel Prize last year.

But these substitute cells show some molecular differences compared to embryonic ones, which has led to questions about whether they can safely be used for treating patients. So it's essential to compare the cells from the two methods, Daley said.

The new results mean "we have another tool," he said. "We have to learn more about this tool."

Daley said he believed scientists will prefer using the reprogramming approach unless it can be proven "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that embryo cloning produces better cells for treating patients.

Mitalipov said he believed his technique would present a particular advantage for treating patients with a certain type of rare diseases. These are caused by mutations in genes of the mitochondria, the power plants of cells. He noted his technique, unlike the cell-reprogramming approach, would supply tissue with new mitochondrial genes that could replace defective ones. Those new genes would come from the egg.

The Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, director of education for National Catholic Bioethics Center, an independent think tank in Philadelphia, reiterated his opposition to embryo cloning, calling the approach unethical.

"It involves the decision to utilize early human beings as repositories for obtaining desired cells," he said. "You're creating them only to destroy them."

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, Calif., said she was glad that Mitalipov doubted the embryos could be used to clone babies. She said the report still provides a good opportunity for the federal government to ban the use of cloning for reproduction.

___

Online:

Journal Cell: http://www.cell.com/

___ Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

That may seem something of a positive concession to players worried Microsofts next Xbox would require always-online connectivity, if only because it means modem-goofing power surges, your curious cat, your even more curious 10-month-old and whimsical, whimsical fate wont drive your Xbox One off a gaming cliff. You have time to get it together, Microsofts saying in essence, though its unclear what the carrot is, and the stick is more like a high-voltage stun gun.

But lets look closely as the statement, which has someanomalies. Heres the salient stuff:

While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.

With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection, but you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies.

Watching live TV I get, but note that Microsofts saying you can also continue to watch physical Blu-ray and DVD movies if you exceed the 24-hour window. Hooray? Sort of. For reasons unknown, Microsofts chosen to distinguish between movies and video games, affording the former carte blanche in its puzzling hierarchy of accessibility. So why in the world are movies being accorded different rights than games?

Theres another hypothetical issue: Lets say you leave your console behind for more than 24 hours, maybe for a weekend trip or a weeklong vacation, and when you return, for whatever reason, your Internets not working. If I understand this correctly, you wont be able to play games on the console until you solve your connectivity issue, which is sort of a double kick in the pants.

Whats more, youll never, ever be able to tote your Xbox One with you on vacation if your vacation involves a destination thats Internet-free a shame, since some of us still visit such backwoods spots (hey, northernand northwest , what can you do). Steam, Valves digital gaming service, has a neat way of getting around this by allowing you to unlock offline play with games youve purchased so long as you logged in, at some point, while connected online (I could be wrong, but Im pretty sure Valves never imposed a periodic login time limit). Once you switch to offline play, so long as youve authenticated while online, youre good to go.

In short, while Im not opposed to the idea of an always-online console the Internets more or less the 21st century equivalent of electricity Im surprised, given the level of scrutiny and worry here, that Microsoft hasnt taken a gentler, more transitional approach. That, and it seems odd that the company would decree one connectivity standard for Blu-ray and DVD movies, but a completely different one for games.

Yet, off the runway, Donna's heart belongs to Haiti. After an earthquake devastated the country in 2010, Karan has been working through her Urban Zen foundation to help rebuild the country. "I quickly realized that the solution to rebuilding the country could be found in the inherent creativity of the people," reveals Karan to Healthy Hollywood.

Karan's latest fundraising project is "Fashion for Haiti: One Million Hearts," which brings together 150 designers, including Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta, and Diane von Furstenberg together to auction off customized papier-mch hearts on eBay in an effort to raise social consciousness and funds for the Haitian Artisan project. "I am so touched and so inspired by the 150 designers who have put their personal touch on these locally-crafted Haitian papier-mch hearts...I was absolutely blown away by their creativity and soulful expression," adds Karan to Healthy Hollywood.

The designer hearts will be auctioned off on eBay until May 2nd. Net proceeds from the eBay auction will benefit Urban Zen's Artisan program, which is dedicated to creating jobs, vocational education and highlighting the creativity of Haiti's artisans.

C'mon Healthy Hollywooders, have a little heart and bid at

-- Terri MacLeod

Copyright 2013 by . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"At this early stage he is progressing satisfactorily," the Buckingham Palace spokesman said in a statement. "The results will now be analysed."

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American chef Richard Blais may be best known for using gimmicks and gadgets in his television appearances but in his first cookbook, "Try This At Home!", he shows his cooking can be fun and tasty without being complicated.

The 41-year-old used often used liquid nitrogen and immersion circulators to make dishes on the U.S. cooking competition show "Top Chef All-Stars," which he won more than two years ago.

Blais, a marathon runner and soccer fan, was born in Uniondale, New York and now lives in Atlanta where he owns The Spence and several other restaurants.

The classically trained chef spoke to Reuters about his reputation as a molecular chef, cooking for his family and being a celebrity.

Q: Is there a misconception about your cooking?

A: My food has gotten a rap that it's really overly complicated, scientific, tech-driven. That's not necessarily the case. I cook simple food at home. People could buy the book and cook from it, not just look at the pretty pictures. It's not just about showcasing the food at the restaurant but also the simple food we make every day as well.

Q: How would you describe your cuisine?

A: My food is generally modern American. We take joy in interpreting classic food. The cookbook might take a beef goulash or a roast chicken or pizzas broken down in different ways. We like to take common comfortable American dishes and reinvent them or re-imagine them.

Q: Are there recipes in your book aimed at people who watched you cooking with liquid nitrogen and immersion circulators on television?

A: Those recipes are in the book as well. They are there to take a dish to the next step. We definitely want to put that style and those techniques in the book. We want to educate more people about those techniques and show them how they are applicable for the home cook.

Q: What specific points or techniques do you want readers to learn from your book?

A: Hopefully the book teaches them to cook a little better ... But the main thing is that cooking should be fun. It's an adventure. It's OK to make mistakes. Hopefully it opens up people's minds to have more fun in the kitchen and be more creative.

Q: What do you cook for your family?

A: We roast chickens. We do make a lot of pasta at home. We eat simple food whether it's a bowl of salad or a grilled cheese sandwich. Even though I'm a chef, we eat like most American families do.

Q: Do you find it interesting that you might be better known than some of your mentors like Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud because of television?

A: It is funny to me, for sure. These are my personal heroes and two of my personal mentors, chefs who are much more experienced, wiser and better. That's one part that's scary and also crazy to me.

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring chefs?

A: Make sure you love cooking and feeding people and keeping them happy. It took me 10 years before I popped up on a television show. It was 10 years of six-day work weeks and 16-hour days, doing some of the lowest level work, peeling potatoes and chopping vegetables. If you are in it just to be on a TV show or just to get some popularity because you cook, it's probably not a right choice you made for your career.

Q: But there might be those who look to you and others and think being on television is a good shortcut to achieve success.

A: Most of us who have been on the show 'Top Chef' have been accomplishing things before we got the call to be on a television show. Keep sending in applications. Go for it. Most of the chefs on my team are constantly sending out applications and answering casting calls for various shows. I recommend it. But make sure you are in the industry because you love to cook. For me, tomorrow if there is no more book and no more TV, I'll still be cooking and that'll make me happy.

Potato chip omelet (serves 4)

12 large eggs

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

6 cups plain kettle-cooked potato chips

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, white pepper, parsley, and chives together until combined. Fold in the potato chips until they are completely covered in the egg mixture, but try not to crush the chips too much. Let stand for 10 minutes, until the chips soften slightly.

2. Heat the butter in an over-proof 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling the pan to coat the bottom completely, until very hot. Carefully pour in the egg mixture and spread it evenly in the pan, then immediately reduce the heat to low. Cook until the eggs are set and the bottom is light golden, about 15 minutes. If the bottom is golden but the eggs are still runny on the top transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and bake until the eggs are completely set, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. To serve, invert a large flat plate over the pan and flip the pan and the plate to invert the omelet onto the plate. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

After moving between small losses and gains for most of the day, the stock market plunged in the final hour of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 200 points, half of them in the last 15 minutes. It was the worst drop in six weeks.

Some traders said the afternoon swoon came as large investors rearranged their holdings to match changes in the widely followed MSCI indexes. Others said rapid-fire automated sell programs kicked in as the decline accelerated, exacerbating the loss.

By late Friday, the market looked like it was "feeding on itself," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "Why did we go from trading flat to down 200 points at the close? It suggests to me that it was driven by computer models."

The market managed to hold on to gains for the month, extending winning streaks for major indexes. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended May with its seventh straight monthly gain, its best run since 2009, but the last two weeks have been choppy. The index has declined on five of the last seven trading days and had its first two-week decline since November.

Traders and investors have started to question whether this year's record-setting rally has run its course. Concern is building that the Federal Reserve may slow its $85 billion bond-buying program. The program has supported the stock market as investors move money out of bonds and into riskier assets. The bond purchases also hold down long-term interest rates to encourage borrowing and spending.

The market appeared to be headed for an inconclusive day of trading early Friday after both encouraging and disappointing news on the economy was reported. An unexpected decline in consumer spending in April was offset by news that a measure of U.S. consumer confidence jumped to the highest level in almost six years in May.

The late afternoon slide in stocks caught many market-watchers by surprise. Big investors may have gotten spooked at the end of the day and sold, says Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities.

"In a thin market, all you need is one or two big money managers to reassess their view and the market can go down quickly," Ricchiuto said.

MSCI, originally known as Morgan Stanley Capital International, provides a range of global stock indexes that professional investors track to measure their performance. The company reviews its indexes twice a year, adding some stocks and removing others.

In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.13 percent from 2.12 percent late Thursday. The yield has risen by half a percentage point since the start of the month and is the highest it's been since April 2012. That has troubled some investors since a rapid rise in rates could curtail borrowing and spending.

The yields on Treasury notes are benchmarks for setting interest rates on many kinds of loans to consumers and businesses. The higher yields are already pushing mortgage rates higher. On Thursday the mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that average mortgage rates jumped this week to the highest level in a year.

"People are worried a rise in interest rates might derail the recovery," says Joseph Tanious, the global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds.

The Dow closed down 208.96 points, or 1.4 percent, to 15,115.57.

It was the biggest loss for the index since April 15, when markets plunged after worries about an economic slowdown in China caused commodity prices to drop sharply.

The Dow managed its sixth straight month of gains.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.67, or 1.4 percent, to 1,630.74. The Nasdaq composite declined 35.38 points, or 1 percent, to 3,455.91.

In commodities trading, oil fell $1.64, or 1.8 percent, to $91.97 a barrel, close to its lowest in a month, after OPEC oil ministers said they would keep their output targets steady. Gold fell $19 to $1,393 an ounce, a decline of 1.3 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

Lions Gate Entertainment rose 77 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $28.80. The company reported net income that topped Wall Street's expectations as it benefited from home video sales of the finale to its hit franchise "Twilight."

Palo Alto Networks fell $5.87, or 11 percent, to $48.52 after the network security company posted a quarterly loss and predicted lower profit and revenue in the current quarter than analysts were expecting.

OmniVision Technologies, a maker of mobile camera sensors, jumped $2.98, or 19 percent, to $18.47. The company reported that its net income doubled in its fourth fiscal quarter as revenue rose sharply.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Craft and Bernard Condon contributed to this report

The $4.7 billion bid for Smithfield Foods by Wan Long, chairman of Shuanghui International, is another big step up for Chinese entrepreneurs who are emerging from the shadow of state-owned corporate giants and expanding on the global stage.

Under pressure to keep economic growth strong, the new government of President Xi Jinping has promised a bigger role and lighter regulatory burden to entrepreneurs who generate China's jobs and wealth. Still, it is unclear how far the ruling Communist Party is willing to go in making crucial changes including curbing the dominance of state industry.

"If these Chinese entrepreneurs who are highly capable are allowed to get on and do what they do best, we're going to see a lot more deals like this," said Charles Maynard, senior managing director of Business Development Asia, which advises companies on acquisitions. "Despite lots of hurdles, they are increasingly able to think globally and act globally."

Another private investor, Fosun International, bought a stake last year in Club Med and says it will team up with insurer AXA to acquire the rest of the French resort operator. Last year, a private firm set the current record for the biggest Chinese takeover of an American company when Wanda Group bought the AMC cinema chain for $2.6 billion.

China's private companies follow a different path from Western buyers pursuing acquisitions.

Cash-rich but inexperienced, they shop for brands, technology and skills to speed their development. Unlike Western buyers, which might lay off employees, Chinese companies keep them and sometimes hire more. Sweden's Volvo Cars expanded its workforce after it was acquired in 2010 by Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group.

"We were especially attracted to Smithfield for its strong management team, leading brands and vertically integrated model," said Shuanghui's Wan in the statement announcing this week's bid.

The purchase was endorsed by Smithfield's board but still require approval from shareholders and U.S. regulators.

Reflecting the sensitivity of Chinese acquisitions at a time of American complaints about computer hacking and market access, the companies said they would submit the proposed deal for a U.S. government national security review.

The announcement comes as President Barack Obama and China's Xi prepare to meet for the first time, overshadowed by mounting American frustration about a wave of cyber intrusions traced to China and possibly its military that targets government and commercial secrets. Obama is expected to press Xi to crack down on cybercrime.

The Chinese acquisition of a major food producer "is a bit concerning," said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in a statement. He said regulators should look at what role the communist Beijing government plays in Shuanghui and whether the acquisition might affect national security.

Some, however, warn against linking the deal to strains in the U.S.-China relationship.

"This is just not the kind of deal that would or should rankle the U.S. government," said James Zimmerman, a lawyer in Beijing for the firm Sheppard Mullen and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, in an email.

"The U.S. government would do more harm than good if they use this transaction to leverage out of China better behavior on unrelated issues," said Zimmerman. "Promoting free trade and open investment only comes from setting an example."

Despite their role in driving growth, private companies like Shuanghui still are second-class corporate citizens behind state companies that benefit from monopolies and low-cost access to bank loans, land and energy.

The World Bank and other advisers have warned that model requires drastic change if China's growth is to stay strong. They say more industries have to be opened to private and possibly foreign competitors.

A statement by the Cabinet's planning agency on May 24 promised such change. But it consisted mostly of repeating previous pledges and gave no details of possible reforms. Those are likely to provoke fierce opposition from party factions that depend on state industry to supply money and jobs to reward their supporters.

Entrepreneurs' expansion abroad comes as China's explosive double-digit economic growth that powered their rise slows.

The slowdown is largely self-imposed as Chinese leaders try to nurture more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption instead of exports and investment. But consumer spending growth is slow. That has forced Beijing to prop up China's rebound from its deepest downturn since the 2008 global crisis with spending on building subways and other public works, which pumps still more money into state industry.

Growth of the world's second-largest economy is forecast at 7 to 8 percent over the next decade far above the low single digits expected from the United States and Europe but China's weakest performance since the '90s.

"They know this economy may have rough days ahead, so why not take their capital and diversify around the world?" said Jim McGregor, chairman for Greater China at consulting firm APCO.

State-owned oil and mining companies still account for China's biggest deals abroad, including multibillion-dollar investments in Australia, Africa and Latin American. In 2007, China's sovereign wealth fund bought a 9.9 percent stake in Morgan Stanley for $5.6 billion.

But smaller private companies are expanding in a wider array of industries including technology, manufacturing, food processing and real estate.

Bright Foods acquired a majority stake last year in Weetabix, which makes Alpen muesli. Hanergy Group, a builder of hydroelectric dams, bought two makers of solar panels MiaSole in California and Germany's Solibro.

Shuanghui's Wan, a former soldier, started his rise in 1985 when coworkers elected him manager of a slaughterhouse in his hometown of Luohe in central China.

The economy was in the early stages of then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping's reforms. The ruling party had begun allowing privately owned restaurants and other small businesses. Rolling back its "iron rice bowl" policies of jobs for life and nationwide wage standards, Beijing was starting to let companies pay employees for the first time based on their productivity.

According to Caixin, China's leading business magazine, Wan turned around his struggling slaughterhouse with such radical innovations for the time as operating three shifts around the clock, every day of the year. It said that in the first year the business swung to a profit of 5 million yuan (about $1.7 million at that time).

The company grew rapidly while undergoing repeated restructurings. It split into two competing companies at one point before reuniting. In 2006, its managers bought out the remaining state stake using money from investors including Goldman Sachs and Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings Ltd.

Today, the company is controlled through Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong, of which Wan is chairman. The operating unit on the mainland, Shuanghui Investment and Development Co., says it is China's biggest meat processor, with annual sales in excess of 50 billion yuan ($8 billion) and more than 60,000 employees.

China consumes more than half the world's pork. That makes the tie-up with Shuanghui a possible boost to Smithfield by giving the American producer a readymade distribution network for its Armour, John Morrell and other brands as Chinese buy more processed and packaged meat.

Shuanghui's reputation was battered in 2011 when state television revealed its pork contained clenbuterol, a banned chemical that makes pork leaner but can be harmful to humans.

The company apologized and promised to improve quality a process that might benefit from an infusion of know-how from Smithfield.

"Pork in China is a vegetable. It's everywhere," said McGregor. "Good for China, trying to up its game on best practices."

The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales reached 4.65 million last year. That's up 9.2 percent from 2011 and the most since 2007. Sales are still below the roughly 5.5 million that are consistent with a healthy market.

Sales dipped in December to a pace of 4.94 million, down from 4.99 million in November. November's figure was revised lower, but was still the highest in three years.

The supply of available homes is shrinking as sales rise. That's pushing up prices. The inventory of homes for sale dropped to 1.82 million in December, the lowest in 12 years.

Still, the housing market is recovering and most analysts expect that should continue this year.

Steady hiring, record-low mortgage rates and a tight supply of new and previously occupied homes available for sale have helped boost sales and prices in most markets.

A measure of U.S. home prices rose 7.4 percent annually in November, real estate data provider CoreLogic said last week.That's the biggest annual increase since 2006, when the housing bubble began to burst. CoreLogic forecasts that home prices will rise 6 percent nationally this year.

Rising demand for homes has persuaded builders to step up construction, which adds to economic growth and hiring.

U.S. builders started work on homes in December at the fastest pace in 4 years, the government said last week. And builders finished 2012 as their best year for residential construction since the early stages of the housing crisis.

The gains in home building helped boost construction hiring in December by 30,000 jobs the most in 15 months.