By Karolos Grohmann

BERLIN (Reuters) - Puerto Rican banker Richard Carrion launched his bid for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday, with his long financial experience a powerful pitch in his quest for the world's top sports job.

The 60-year-old Carrion, who is chairman of Puerto Rican lender Popular Inc, heads the IOC's finance commission and is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, becomes the third official candidate in the race to be decided on Sept. 10.

"We have a lot at stake in this election," Carrion, an IOC member since 1990, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Our place in the world is not guaranteed. We must have a leader that knows how not just to manage the coming change but also make it work for the IOC and the movement," said the soft-spoken Carrion.

IOC Vice Presidents Thomas Bach from Germany and Singapore's Ng Ser Miang have already launched their campaigns while the head of the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) C.K. Wu is set to announce his bid on Thursday.

Several more could decide to run, with Swiss sports administrator Denis Oswald and former pole vault champion Sergei Bubka seen as likely candidates.

As head of the IOC's finance commission since 2002, Carrion, who is also responsible for negotiating broadcasting rights for the IOC, has overseen major revenue growth over the past decade despite the global economic downturn.

He also helped to negotiate a four-Games deal to 2020 with U.S. broadcaster NBC worth $4.38 billion.

Sponsorship revenues for the IOC through its TOP programme for the 2013-16 period are set to exceed $1 billion for the first time, compared with $663 million for 2001-4.

"(IOC) President (Jacques) Rogge has entrusted me with a lot of responsibility, financial and television. It was his vision that we should grow the foundation to have enough money at hand in case Games were cancelled," said Carrion.

MOUNTING REVENUES

Broadcasting revenues, the biggest source of income for the IOC, are seen topping $4 billion until 2016, with revenues for the 2002-4 period at almost half that.

"If you look at the IOC, it has a great standing but by nature when things are going well I think about what could go wrong. This is a great standing but it is not something that is guaranteed," said Carrion.

He said he wanted to see the IOC branching out to other organisations to become stronger.

"We cannot do everything on our own. We have tremendous resources in the work our members do. We can create associations with other organisations around the world, learn from best practices."

In turn, Carrion said he wanted to see Olympic Games expertise brought back into the IOC as the Games became more complex.

"We developed an expertise and need to bring this core of people in-house. There are areas in staging Olympics where we would benefit if we had a core of people permanently engaged in host cities," he said.

The IOC will elect the winning candidate at their session in Buenos Aires, with all 100-plus IOC members voting. Rogge is stepping down after his two-term presidency comes to a mandatory end.

Asked to comment on how he viewed campaigning against close colleagues for one of the most powerful sports jobs in the world that has come up only twice since 1980, Carrion said he thought there would be at least two more candidates appearing before the June 10 deadline.

"I think there will probably six candidates and this is a good thing. The more candidates, the more opportunity for members to make the decision who is the most capable person.

"Every IOC member is responsible for that legacy and I am convinced the number of candidates is a good thing. We should all have opportunity to share our ideas." (Editing by Clare Fallon)

Joan of Arc (AP)

Joan of Arc martyredConsidered a heroine of France, the 18-year-old claimed to hear thethat told her to lead the French army to several victories in the 100 Years War. She was eventually captured by the British who burned her at the stake as a heretic on May 30, 1431. Five hundred years later the pious war hero was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Edmund Hillary, Col. John Hunt and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 (AP)

First people to summit Mount EverestEdmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to summit Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, 60 years ago. The amazing feat has been followed by about 3,500 other climbers. The legacy seems to be a dirty onethe mountain is .

Big Ben clock in London (Getty Images)Big Ben goes into operationOn May 31, 1859, the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, commonly known as Big Ben, began operation. The nickname, referring to the bell inside the tower, was officially named theto celebrate the queen's diamond jubilee in 2012.

Composer Igor Stravinsky (Getty Images)

'Rite of Spring' causes riotBallet is not normally associated with outrage, but this dance, provocatively choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky with music composed by Igor Stravinsky and performed on May 29, 1913, in Paris, was too modern for some ears and eyes.

As Slate , "As the music became more brutal and rhythmically complex and Nijinskys provocative choreographing of the sacrifice of a young virgin unfolded, laughter and catcalls devolved into an outright riot, with the audience becoming so loud at points that the orchestra could not even be heard." One hundred years later, the piece is "indisputably one of the most important and influential compositions of the 20th century."

Teacher Orvar Arnarson, 41, and student Andrimar Pordarson, 25, jumped separately, not in tandem, on Saturday after successfully completing two jumps earlier that day with 20 other people. The two Icelandic skydivers did not return from their third jump, tipping off an hours-long air and ground search around the Zephyrhills facility, about 30 miles northeast of Tampa. The bodies were discovered later that evening in the woods.

Investigators will review the helmet cam footage to try to glean more about what happened, said Pasco County sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Snow.

The cause of death was blunt force trauma, the medical examiner's office said. Autopsy results were pending, but a preliminary investigation determined that the manner of death was accidental.

The men didn't deploy their main parachutes, which could mean that they lost altitude awareness and didn't know where they were during the jump, Skydive City co-owner T.K. Hayes told The Associated Press on Sunday. Both victims had backup automatic activation devices, but they didn't have time to fully inflate.

Out of just over 3 million jumps, 19 skydivers died last year across the U.S., according to the United States Parachute Association. Experts said it is "very rare" for two jumpers to die in the same accident.

"It happens from time to time if two skydivers collide while flying their parachutes if they don't see each other," said Nancy Koreen, Director of Sport Promotion for association.

"In that situation, their canopies can tangle, causing an accident. I don't yet know the details of this particular accident, but from what I understand, this was a different case," she said, adding that "it's extremely rare for this type of double fatality to occur."

The victims were part of a skydiving group from Iceland who travel to Florida annually.

ATLANTAAs dozens of protesters waved signs proclaiming, Stop Assassinations: Ground the Drones! outside the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday, a room full of scientists, oblivious to their demonstrations, raptly watched a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation about riparian vegetation, river morphology and the helpful qualities of beaver dams.

The researchers who came from around the world to attend the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (a fancy term for drones) in Atlanta this week say they are not interested in the remotely controlled predator drones that help the U.S. government track and kill suspected terroristsand sometimes, by accident, civilianswithout having to put a single U.S. service member at risk.

President Barack Obama defended the U.S. governments use of the deadly, pilotless aircraft in a national security speech last week, though he suggested that drones might play less of a role in the war on terror in the years to come.

At this drone conference, however, scientistsand those who hope to profit off their researchpore over slides that show how small, light drones equipped with inexpensive cameras that can be purchased at Wal-Mart can take images clear and comprehensive enough to help farmers design irrigation systems for their crops, or create the most efficient system for fighting a wildfire, or conduct search-and-rescue missions. The camera-equipped drones are also useful for determining the health of a rivers vegetation or finding out how much of a wetlands area is destroyed after a new road is built.

We want them to help people, not kill people, Dr. YangQuan Chen of the University of California, Merced, one of the conferences organizers, told the researchers at his workshop on Tuesday morning.

Many of the conference attendees are hyperaware of the perception that drones are primarily used in warfare or by local police for covert surveillance or spying. (Chen's former student lamented during his presentation that drone researcher is considered "the opposite of sexy.") This year alone, these concerns have spurred dozens of states to consider legislation limiting the use of drones. Its a rare issue thats attracted bipartisan supporteveryone from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has raised the specter of a drone-filled America devoid of privacy.

The furor has left many of these scientists confused. They see drones as co-scientists, as Chen put itfriendly and reliable tools that can gather data efficiently and quickly in places scientists just cant get to.

When Colin Brooks, a scientist at Michigan Tech Research Institute who uses drones to find potholes and other problems in the state's roads, read about his state lawmakers considering a bill to ban weaponized drones in Michigan a few months ago, he was baffled.

When I read the state legislature bill, I was like, What? I just want to look at potholes! he said. They think killing people in Afghanistan or spying in grandmas window is the only application. Thats not the story.

Brooks drones can tell him exactly how many potholes are in a stretch of road and how deep each of them is. The drones do the tedious work in a matter of hours that otherwise would have to be conducted on the ground by a team of workers over days. He doesnt understand why these less glamorous but helpful civilian uses of drones dont get attention from politicians or the press. (Despite their concerns, at least one poll by Monmouth University . Nearly two-thirds of Americans , meanwhile, as long as the killing doesn't take place on U.S. soil.)

Civilian uses of drones are sure to get a lot more attention in the next few years when the Federal Aviation Administration must lift its ban on the commercial uses of drones. Last year, Congress directed the FAA to open the airspace to drones by October 2015. The agency has allowed only very limited, noncommercial use of drones. For public use, researchers must submit stacks of paperwork to certify their drones, a bonding subject at the conference.

Today we worry about getting arrested or put in jail, but after 2015 the national airspace must be open, Chen joked.

The researchers hope for an era of file and fly, when anyone can file some paperwork and launch their own personal drone. Drones could be controlled by smartphones, and become nearly as popular, Chen thinks, saying the personalization of drones will be the next big tech breakthrough, on par with the development of the personal computer. The drone industry shares his optimism: An industry report estimatesin the first 10 years after the FAA allows their commercial use. (Much of that revenue might come from agribusiness, given the enormous cost savings that could be garnered by using a small drone instead of satellite or manned aircraft to survey crops. Some researchers were skeptical that police departments will become a big source of business, given state and local budget crunches.)

It remains to be seen whether regular people will want drones, however, or how they will develop once they are less regulated. But some people attending the conference are already hoping to break into the nascent industry. Alice Sheplar, a former chief information officer for a military hospital at Fort Stewart, Ga., is halfway through gaining her certification at the Unmanned Vehicle University, an online academy founded by a retired Air Force colonel that teaches students to create and pilot drones. As part of her courses, Sheplar must assemble her own drone from parts that are mailed to her.

Sheplar brought her daughter, Lauren Shepler, along to the conference, to try to persuade her to switch from teaching to the field. Lauren said she remained skeptical about drones' ability to replace human pilots, especially for longer flights, though she is remaining open to the idea. (Her father flew Apaches for the Army.) Alice said she wants to open her own drone business once the FAA approves commercial drone use, but that she doesnt want to control the device. Shed rather deal with the marketing side of the business. Maybe you could be the pilot, she said to her daughter, who laughed.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Co-writer-director Joseph Kosinski ("TRON: Legacy") digs all the way to the back of the refrigerator for "Oblivion," taking leftover bits of "The Matrix," "WALL-E," "2001," "Moon" and "Planet of the Apes," among countless other science-fiction classics, and putting them into a slick, shiny and state-of-the-art crock pot.

The results looks amazing, but most of the ideas that resonate will feel very familiar and more than a bit warmed-over.

You'll see one if not both of the movie's big twists coming, and while a case could be made that "Oblivion" will make the boldest anti-drones statement of any fictional film this year, it's a chilly movie that never draws you in enough to get fully invested in what's happening.

Tom Cruise opens the film with a head-spinning torrent of exposition, but it boils down to this: It's 2077. Sixty years earlier, alien invaders wrecked the moon, destroying much of Earth. What was left of the planet got trashed by nukes used to fight off the E.T.s, and now most of the population lives on a moon of Saturn.

The only people left on Earth are Jack (Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough, "W.E."), who live in a high-tech house in the clouds and whose memories were wiped five years earlier.

He goes out every day to repair the drones that scan the earth for the remnants of the alien Scavengers; she reports their progress to Sally (Melissa Leo, with a ludicrous twang) at Mission Control. Unbeknownst to Victoria, Jack still remembers meeting up with a mystery woman (Olga Kurylenko of "To the Wonder") at the Empire State Building back before the war.

He's also built a secret hideaway in the mountains, a lakeside cabin where he can shoot hoops, listen to old vinyl LPs and squirrel away the books he has found in his travels.

One day, Jack happens upon the top of the Empire State Building, which the Scavengers are using as a homing beacon; following the coordinates being sent out, he finds a crashed spaceship, but the passengers aren't aliens - they're humans. And one of them is the lady from Jack's dreams.

This discovery sets in motion Jack's new understanding of who he is and what has happened to Earth, and "Oblivion" might have worked better if it weren't so proud of these revelations that most audience members will figure out long before the characters do.

Kosinski is great with the doohickeys - Jack's transport, his fold-up motorcycle, that house of the future - but neither the plot nor the characters click the way they should. (And I say that as someone who actually liked "TRON: Legacy.")

Cruise has to spend most of the film playing a literal blank slate, but even after he starts filling in his own memories, the character remains as vague as ever. And poor Morgan Freeman, who turns up late in the film, gets saddled with some astonishingly clichd dialogue. (That YouTube reel of characters in dozens of movies saying the line, "You look like shit," just got three seconds longer.) M83's score is mostly effective, but even it feels unoriginal, like the love child of Daft Punk's "TRON: Legacy" music and the "Inception" BWAAAAH.

There's a weirdly sexist tinge as well, with the female characters being either nefarious or inert (not to mention a triangular big bad alien presence that could have been designed by Judy Chicago). "Oblivion" also indulges in one of those have-your-cake endings that are so popular of late; not to give anything away, but this is another movie that promises a gutsy, powerful denouement only to give the audience a reassuring wink and a high-five.

The stink of studio notes and focus groups pervades throughout, in fact - that awkward narration at the beginning shares information that Jack offers up again later in the film; one imagines a test audience complaining that they didn't understand what was happening, and the studio deciding to overlay all that clunky exposition up front. Just a theory, but I'd put five bucks on it.

If the dialogue and the concepts of "Oblivion" had been as fresh and powerful as its art direction, we'd really have something here. Instead, it's something borrowed packaged inside something new.

PORT LOUIS, May 29 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter promised Palestinians on Wednesday that soccer's world governing body would help put an end to the long-running problems with Israel that severely restrict sport in the territories.

Blatter, who went to the region two years ago to try to help improve the relationship between the Palestinians and Israel, was applauded by delegates at a conference of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Mauritius before FIFA's Congress starting on Thursday.

Blatter told AFC delegates he was aware of what he called "this touchy problem", adding: "I can confirm I will help, FIFA will help. It's a problem of football. We will help you and this will be done. It's not a promise it's a will - and where there's a will there's way."

The tensions between the neighbours have been exacerbated as the start of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship, being staged in four Israeli cities next month, approaches.

Last week UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said after its Congress in London that European soccer's governing body was within its rights to award the tournament to Israel and would not consider moving it.

But Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestine FA and Palestine Olympic Committee, said the situation had worsened since Blatter and International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge visited the region on separate occasions in 2011 and 2010.

At Rajoub's request there will be an open debate on the situation at the FIFA Congress on Friday.

ANGRY PALESTINIANS

Palestinians are angry that Israel's security forces, who control movement between Gaza and the West Bank, frequently prevent athletes from travelling freely between the two areas.

The situation is not restricted to Palestinians.

As a full member of FIFA and the AFC, the Palestine FA has started to hold more regional tournaments but the Israelis are stopping athletes from third countries entering the West Bank.

Recently two teenagers from Myanmar were stuck in Jordan for a week awaiting clearance so they could play in an Under-17 tournament before eventually been granted access to the Palestinian territories.

After Wednesday's meeting, Rajoub told Reuters: "It's crazy what the Israelis are doing. They should be asked either to respect and accept the statutes or pay the price. I am talking about free access and free movement for both athletes and sports instructors and experts from abroad.

"We just want to enjoy sport like the rest of the associations."

Asked whether IOC and FIFA intervention had helped, he said: "No. The situation is deteriorating. They have to recognise reality on the ground and Palestine is a member of both FIFA and the IOC and accepts all of the standards and statutes of FIFA."

He also objected to Israel hosting next month's Under-21 finals saying: "They should not be given this gift as long as they are not giving Palestinians the right to enjoy the same things as them." (Reporting by Mike Collett; Editing by Ken Ferris)

A-Rod's business partner, Jose More, confirmed that the sale closed Friday.

Rodriguez bought the 54,000-square-foot piece of waterfront land for $7.4 million in 2010. Using his own construction company, Newport Property Construction, he spent another $7.6 million building a nearly-20,000-square-foot mansion.

The sale one of the highest ever in Miami-Dade County will earn Rodriguez a $15 million profit.

More says Rodriguez decided to sell because the buyer, who More wouldn't name, made A-Rod an offer he simply could not refuse. More says Rodriguez also loves the design process and is already planning to buy another home in South Florida with a little more privacy.

A-Rod is recovering from surgery on his left hip.

Despite the announcement from Moscow, one of Assad's staunchest allies, Damascus has not issued a definitive statement of its own on the proposed talks.

Russia and the U.S. joined efforts earlier this month to convene an international conference to bring representatives of Assad's regime and the opposition to the negotiating table. The aim of the talks would be to establish the outlines of a transitional government as a way out of the crisis.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.

The main opposition Syrian National Coalition has not yet said whether it will attend the conference in Geneva, expected within two weeks, and is currently discussing its position at a gathering in the Turkish city of Istanbul. But members have said they want guarantees that Assad's departure is foremost on the agenda.

The U.S.-Russia plan, similar to the one set out last year in Geneva, calls for talks on a transitional government and an open-ended cease-fire. Washington, along with key European and Arab supporters of Syria's opposition, said Wednesday that Assad must relinquish power at the start of a transition period. Russia, however, has not committed to Assad's departure and the Syrian leader has said he will not step down before his term ends next year.

The Moscow announcement Friday came after days of talks there between Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad and Russian officials.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in televised remarks that the Syrian government has "agreed in principle" to participate in the conference.

"We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from the Syrian government in Damascus to participate in the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves, to find a political solution," Lukashevich said.

But he said it is impossible to set the date for the conference at this point because there is "no clarity about who will speak on behalf of the opposition and what powers they will have."

Lukashevich also said Moscow "was not encouraged" by the results of recent meetings of members of the Syrian National Coalition.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, legislator Sharif Shehadeh confirmed the government intends to attend, though no official statement has been issued yet. "The expectations and the opinion within the Syrian leadership is that it will most definitely attend the conference," Shehadeh told The Associated Press.

He said there should be no preconditions by the opposition or the regime because "if we start off with preconditions, we will end up in failure and this is something Russia is making clear to the opposition."

"The success of the conference lies with the opposition, not the government," he said.

At the Syrian National Coalition's three-day gathering in Istanbul, an opposition figure expressed doubts over Moscow's announcement, questioning why Damascus has said nothing.

"We are very supportive of the (U.S.-Russian) initiative. Our fear is that the regime is not going to negotiate in good faith. We would like to hear enough (from Damascus) to know that they are serious about these negotiations," said Louay Safi.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday acknowledged the difficulties of launching peace talks. "Nobody has any illusions about how difficult, complicated, what a steep climb that is," he said during a visit to Israel.

Fighting continued across Syria on Friday, and state media reported that rebels fired mortar shells at the central prison in the embattled northern city of Aleppo, killing and wounding several inmates.

The pro-opposition Aleppo Media Center said clashes were underway between rebels and government troops at the prison, where a large fire had broken out. State-TV reported later Friday that troops repelled the attack on the jail and killed several gunmen.

A week earlier, Assad's forces repelled a rebel raid on the prison aiming to free hundreds of political prisoners.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense fighting also continued in the western Syrian town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon.

Government forces have been trying to recapture the town since Sunday. State-run news agency SANA said troops killed a "large number" of rebels in the latest clashes.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which has several reporters embedded with Syrian troops in Qusair, said government forces are advancing inside the nearby town of Hamdiyeh in an attempt to cut the rebels' last supply line.

In neighboring Lebanon, Lebanese supporters and opponents of Assad fought overnight in some of the worst fighting in the port city of Tripoli in years. Security officials said the death toll since Sunday reached 25, including three soldiers.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said 200 people were wounded in the fighting. The city was quiet during the day Friday apart from sporadic shooting.

____

Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Ayse Wieting in Istanbul contributed to this report.

While her eight colleagues donned their black robes and took the bench to announce opinions, Sotomayor was wearing Yale blue and receiving an honorary degree in New Haven, Conn.

Among her messages to graduates of Yale Law School, where Sotomayor received her law degree in 1979: A justice's life isn't all glamour.

"Sometimes it gets boring. No justice is supposed to say that. But, you know, there's drudgery in every job you're going to do," Sotomayor told more than 200 graduates. Yale posted video of the law school graduation on its website.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts read a summary of Sotomayor's opinion in a case involving attorney's fees. So, point taken.

And who can blame her for finding her day job humdrum at times after the whirlwind she's experienced in recent months?

The 58-year-old justice has traveled the country and conducted many interviews to promote her best-selling memoir, "My Beloved World." The book has been on the New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list for 15 weeks, including several at No. 1.

She was greeted by adoring crowds in her parents' native Puerto Rico. She has appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes," bantered with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, toured her old school with Oprah Winfrey and sat with the co-hosts on ABC's "The View," where some of them called her Sonia.

The larger point of Sotomayor's remarks at Yale was to tell the graduates they can learn in every job they do and urge them to take jobs about which they are passionate, even if they do not necessarily look great on a resume.

Although she did have a bit of bad news for the fledgling lawyers, their elite law school experience notwithstanding. "No, not all of you can be on the Supreme Court. There are only nine seats and you've got the job forever," she said.

___

Right about now, people start wondering when the high court will issue the term's big rulings gay marriage, voting rights and affirmative action this year.

Predicting how the court will decide cases and when, precisely, the decisions will come is notoriously difficult.

But there is little doubt actually none at all that the high court will wind up its work sometime during the last week in June.

A quick look at the justices' summer plans tells you all you need to know.

At least four justices have engagements the first week in July, thousands of miles from Washington.

Leading the way in summer teaching gigs, Roberts will be in Prague, in the Czech Republic, for a program led by the South Texas College of Law in Houston and the William Mitchell College of Law in Minneapolis. Justice Clarence Thomas is expected in Innsbruck, Austria, for St. Mary's University law school in San Antonio.

Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan both have agreed to speak in Aspen, Colo.

And then, starting after July 4, Kagan and Justice Anthony Kennedy are both teaching in Salzburg, Austria, for the University of the Pacific.

At some point early in July, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will alight in Paris to teach in Tulane University's summer law program.

Justices can accept roughly $25,000 in additional income for teaching and speaking, beyond their salary of $213,900 a year. The chief justice earns about $10,000 a year more.

Summer law school classes can add $10,000 to $20,000 to their incomes and also subsidize the cost of family vacations in very desirable locations. The schools are delighted to land a Supreme Court justice.

Last year, Roberts joked about heading to the "impregnable island fortress" of Malta, where he taught after he enraged conservatives with his vote to uphold President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Going to Malta "seemed like a good idea," Roberts joked the day after the ruling.

____

If the court ever were to alter its practice of doling out opinions among all the justices and instead put them all in Ginsburg's hands, the term would be pretty close to over.

She's fast. Her unanimous opinion Monday reinstating the murder conviction of former Michigan police officer Burt Lancaster (no relation to the actor) came out 26 days after the court heard arguments, the fastest turnaround this term.

Roberts was a close second, writing another unanimous opinion in a patent case one month and four days after it was argued in January.

Whenever the justices all agree on something, it is much easier to get a decision in the books. But Ginsburg, Roberts and even Justice Antonin Scalia stand apart from the others for their writing speed.

But when the justices are at loggerheads, months can pass without a decision.

The affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas, was argued more than seven months ago, on Oct. 10.

Only the justices can say what's taking so long. They will, eventually, in multiple opinions that are expected the day that case is decided before the end of June.

___

Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at www.twitter.com/shermancourt

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