Cotton Malone returns in a thriller that combines history and gunfire in Steve Berry's "The King's Deception."

Malone arrives in England with his 15-year-old son, Gary, and a teenager named Ian. The CIA has a personal interest in Ian, and they ask Malone to escort him back to England from the United States. When they arrive, they find guns pointed in their faces, and the chase begins.

Ian has a thumbdrive with materials involving a top-secret operation involving history that the British government doesn't want revealed. A terrorist is about to be released from prison for humanitarian reasons, and the CIA plans to use blackmail by revealing this secret if the British government doesn't intervene.

Betrayals abound, and it's never clear what's really going on or the true motives behind the players manipulating Malone at every turn.

Readers old and new will enjoy "The King's Deception."

___

Online:

http://steveberry.org/

The demonstration came ahead of Merkel's meeting in the building with Tunisian Premiere Ali Larayedh. The women chanted "Merkel free Femen" repeatedly before being removed.

After the two leaders met, Merkel told reporters that they had discussed the issue and that she had "made clear the hope for a fair and reasonable handling" of the situation.

Larayedh downplayed the incident, while saying that he considered "the proceedings so far to be just."

"This incident must not be blown out of proportion," he said through a translator. "The rights of the youngsters are being protected."

Two of the protesters in Berlin had painted the names of the activists jailed in Tunisia across their bare chests, while the third had "Free Femen" on her stomach.

Police said the three were not arrested, but they are investigating possible charges of violating German public assembly laws. Police did not immediately have information on the protesters' nationality but said they were not German.

The women were demanding help for three Femen demonstrators a German and two French women who are on trial in Tunis for public indecency after demonstrating topless in front of Tunisia's Palace of Justice. It was the Ukraine-based group's first such protest in the Middle East.

The three activists were in turn calling for the release of a Tunisian member of the group, Amina Sboui.

Sboui scandalized the country by posting topless photos of herself protesting for women's rights in March. She later attempted another protest May 19 in the religious center of Kairouan, where she was arrested.

The American Cancer Society is pushing to make New York the first state to enact a comprehensive restriction on the sale of candy- and fruit-flavored cigarillos, chewing tobacco and tobacco used in water pipes. Its proposal would restrict the sale of all fruit- and candy-flavored tobacco products to tobacco shops, banning those products from convenience stories.

Maine bans the sale of larger "premium" flavored cigars and other states including Maryland have proposed laws, according to the University of Maryland Law School. New York City and Providence, R.I., also have restricted the sale of flavored tobacco.

"If New York acts, it would be the first state in the nation, and turbocharge efforts nationally," said Blair Horner, vice president of advocacy at the American Cancer Society and Cancer Action Network of New York and New Jersey.

The little cigars, chewing tobacco and loose tobacco for use in water pipes are sold individually for as little as 99 cents or in packs and avoid stiff cigarette taxes aimed at dissuading young people from smoking.

"I couldn't believe this when I saw it," Horner said. "Lawmakers may not even know about them ... this ease of access of cheap, tasty, and deadly tobacco."

New York law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone under age 18. But anti-smoking advocates say restricting sales to adults-only smoke shops would stymie illegal sales and hinder youths purchasing cigarettes through an adult who buys them at a corner store.

Not everyone agrees with the proposed crackdown on sweet smokes.

"This is an adult product, like you have flavored liquors," said Audrey Silk, founder of NYC CLASH, a national smokers' rights group based in New York City. "The flavoring is an excuse to exploit the emotional driven 'for the children' (argument). Adults should be allowed to smoke flavored tobacco. There are already laws that exist that restrict sales to minors."

Driving flavored cigars and other products out of convenience stories will simply drive sales to unregulated sources, such as the Internet, the mail, or Indian tribes, said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.

"Do you want them sold in a regulated environment or sold without any controls?" Calvin said.

There has been a rise in flavored tobacco products over the last five years, he said, and store owners have improved compliance to 94 percent in state stings to root out stores selling cigarettes to underage customers. A decade ago, the compliance rate was 80 percent, he said.

A tobacco industry spokeswoman had no immediate comment Friday. Tobacco companies have said they oppose smoking by those under age 18. The companies have mounted extensive efforts to curb youth smoking and some of the billions the companies paid in a nationwide court settlement have been directed at keeping minors from starting to smoke.

In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes. Federal health authorities and regulators say those products appeal especially to young people and are thought to attract new smokers. The FDA says 17-year-old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25.

The agency says almost 90 percent of adult smokers picked up the habit as teenagers, and it estimates the 2009 ban helps prevent an average of more than 3,600 young people each day from starting to smoke.

The ban on manufacturing, importing, marketing and distributing flavored cigarettes didn't include menthol cigarettes or some flavored tobacco products such as cigars. The FDA is studying those products.

Although New York City has a measure to restrict the candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco, city youths can easily buy them across the city line. As other states consider restrictions, the New York state effort is bolstered by New York City's already enacted ordinance that the courts have upheld.

"They are not selling broccoli and spinach flavored products," said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which supports the New York bill. "These are marketed for kids."

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slipped to a one-month low on Friday as a slump in gold miners, which followed a tumbling bullion price, offset strength in several other sectors after a robust U.S. jobs report.

The market's decline, its sixth straight daily drop, sharply contrasted with strong gains seen south of the border.

U.S. employers stepped up hiring in May in a show of economic resilience that analysts said suggests the Federal Reserve could begin to scale back its monetary stimulus later this year.

But fears that the Fed could turn off the monetary tap hit gold prices and diminished the precious metal's appeal as a safe-haven asset.

"The jobs numbers show evidence of a grinding recovery in the United States, which is measurably positive, but not robustly so," said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist, North America, at Russell Investments.

"The data suggests that there is no reason to think that the Fed's going to deviate significantly from their current policy position."

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite indexclosed down 36.03 points, or 0.29 percent, at 12,373.30, after earlier slipping to its lowest since May 2. Seven of the 10 main sectors on the index were higher.

The index lost 2.2 percent on the week.

The Canadian market has been pulled down by the natural resources sectors, which have been hit by volatile commodity prices.

"Within equities, we have a pretty large tilt toward U.S. stocks and a pretty large tilt away from Canadian stocks," said Geoff Stein, a portfolio manager with Fidelity Investments who helps manage about $55 billion in assets.

Stein is cautious about Canadian equities due in part to the weakness in the resource groups and the slowdown in the housing industry.

The benchmark Canadian index is in the red for the year, while the U.S. S&P 500has gained 15.2 percent.

Gold stocks gave back 5 percent and dragged the materials group down 3.4 percent.

Goldcorp Incslid 5.1 percent and Barrick Gold Corpdeclined 4.9 percent.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, gained 0.3 percent. Manulife Financial Corpclimbed 2.1 percent and had the biggest positive influence on the market.

(Editing by G Crosse)

Her collection of 15 major championships includes five from Wimbledon, five from the Australian Open, four from the U.S. Open ... and one from Roland Garros.

Ever since she beat her sister in the 2002 final in Paris, starting a run of four consecutive titles at tennis' most important events, one thing or another has prevented Williams from a second French Open trophy. She'd love to change that by beating defending champion Maria Sharapova in Saturday's final.

"It would be awesome for me," Williams said. "I don't think there's anything that can describe how happy I would be."

When a reporter asked whether she now feels comfortable on the tournament's red clay courts, Williams replied: "Incidentally, I have always felt really comfortable. I just haven't done great."

Her history at the tournament has been filled with tough times and earlier-than-expected departures.

In 2003, her 33-match Grand Slam winning streak ended with a three-set loss to Justine Henin in a semifinal marked by Henin's gamesmanship, a mean-spirited crowd that cheered Williams' faults, and the American's post-match tears.

In 2004, Williams lost in three sets to Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals, the same round that saw her bid adieu in 2007 (against Henin again), 2009 (Svetlana Kuznetsova) and 2010 (Sam Stosur). Williams lost in the third round in 2008, and missed the French Open in 2005, 2006 and 2010 with various health problems.

Last year brought the most surprising defeat of all, against 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France, the only first-round exit for Williams in 51 career Grand Slam appearances.

"She was so mad," Williams' mother, Oracene Price, recalled Thursday.

Instead of sulking, Williams got right back to work, sticking around Paris where she owns an apartment and training at coach Patrick Moratouglou's tennis academy. How did that work out? Well, since that Razzano match, Williams is 73-3, with titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the London Olympics and the WTA Championships last season, along with a tour-leading five titles so far in 2013. At 31, she is the oldest woman to be ranked No. 1.

For the first time in 11 years, Williams is back in the French Open final.

"Obviously, she's in form," Sharapova said. "She's playing some of the best tennis of her career."

And, by the sounds of support from the stands these two weeks, Williams has earned some new fans along the way. In addition to her French abode, and her French coach, she's been speaking the local language during her on-court interviews after matches, a surefire way to endear herself to French hearts.

"The fact that she feels the crowd is behind her makes a lot of difference," Moratouglou said. "She feels a bit special now here, and I think in the past she never did. I mean, it was a Grand Slam, so for sure she had a lot of respect for Roland Garros, but it was not the same."

Her play these two weeks has been mostly magnifique.

Putting aside a three-set struggle against 2009 champion Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals which Moratouglou said made Williams "feel the danger for a moment" and Price said "shook her up a little bit" the American has dropped a total of 11 games across her other five matches.

Williams won her 30th consecutive match, a personal best and the longest single-season streak by a woman since 2000, in Thursday's semifinals, beating Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 6-1. Williams produced a 40-2 edge in winners, hit serves topping 120 mph, pounded 10 return winners, and even mixed in some volleys and a perfect drop shot.

"Unbelievable," Errani said.

Especially when you consider that Errani is ranked No. 5, was the runner-up to Sharapova a year ago, and has reached the semifinals at three of the past five major tournaments.

Now the No. 2-ranked Sharapova will see what she can do against Williams.

Back in 2004, Sharapova, still only 17 and relatively unknown at the time, stunned Williams and the tennis world by winning their Wimbledon final in straight sets. Four months later, Sharapova beat Williams again, this time in the final of the season-ending WTA Championships.

They've played each other 12 times since on grass, hard and clay courts; indoors and outdoors; at tournaments large and small and Williams is 12-0 in those matches, taking 24 of their 27 sets in that span.

"Whatever I did in the past hasn't worked," Sharapova said, "so I'll have to try to do something different."

For years, whatever Williams did in Paris didn't work. So far, so good, this time.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) -

2. "The 12th of Never" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown,

$27.99) 2

3. "Dead Ever After" by Charlaine Harris (Ace, $27.95) 1

4. "Silken Prey" by John Sandford (Putnam, $27.95) 3

5. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 4

6. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $27.95) 6

7. "Daddy's Gone a Hunting" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) 8

8. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 10

9. "A Delicate Truth" by John le Carr (Viking, $28.95) 7

10. "A Step of Faith" by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster, $19.99 5

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, $40) -

3. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 2

4. "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $27.00) 3

5. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

6. "Keep It Pithy" by Bill O'Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 8

7. "Waiting to Be Heard" by Amanda Knox (Harper, $28.99) 5

8. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 11

9. "It's All Good" by Gwyneth Paltrow (Grand Central, $32.00) 7

10. "Cooked" by Michael Pollan (Penguin, $27.95) 6

Week that ended May 19, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Maureen Bavdek)

This month, tuber processing giant J.R. Simplot Co. asked the U.S. government to approve five varieties of biotech potatoes. They're engineered not to develop ugly black bruises. McDonald's, which gets many of its fries from Simplot, rejects those. They're also designed to have less of a natural but potentially cancer-causing neurotoxin, acrylamide.

Much has changed in 12 years, according to the Boise-based company.

Unlike transgenic varieties Monsanto commercialized in the 1990s using genes from synthetic bacteria to kill insect pests, Simplot's new "Innate"-brand potatoes use only potato genes.

Haven Baker, Simplot's Yale- and Harvard University-trained vice-president of plant sciences, said his scientists journeyed inside the vegetable's genome to "silence" unwanted attributes, while making sure it remained 100 percent potato.

"You'll never get as much beneficial effect from traditional plant breeding," he said. "And it'll take twice as long."

Those in the industry remember Monsanto's ill-fated foray and say Simplot's major challenge in avoiding a similar fate is ensuring its product is acceptable among growers, processors and, ultimately, people eating it.

"Unless your customers are prepared to embrace this product, it's not going to be successful," said Frank Muir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission that represents Idaho's $3 billion industry. His group, whose website currently boasts Idaho potatoes aren't genetically engineered, hasn't weighed in on Simplot's endeavor.

But Muir does think the company is making the right moves: Reaching out to the industry, as well as consumers who may eventually buy Innate potatoes as big, un-bruised bakers or golden fries. "They're taking all the appropriate steps."

As the USDA and Food and Drug Administration embark on vetting Simplot's potatoes, the agencies are nearing completion of a similar review of a genetically engineered apple created by a Canadian company, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, to resist browning when cut.

The apple industry has opposed Okanagan's "Arctic" apple, on grounds it could create marketing headaches for growers of unmodified apples. Christian Schlect, the Northwest Horticultural Council president, said he hopes the potatoes go to market first.

"We'd just as soon the potato people take the initial foray on marketing this technology, and we'll follow their experience," he said.

In fact, the two products, should they win the government's blessing, could hit customers about the same time, 2015 or 2016.

Baker said with Simplot's new potatoes, growers would earn more money with less wastage from bruising, something that can affect up to 5 percent of their harvest. Additionally, the spuds are designed to produce acrylamide levels so low they skirt California's strict, voter-mandated cancer labels on french fries and potato chips, he said.

McDonald's didn't return a call seeking comment about the tubers. A big Simplot processing rival, ConAgra, says its potatoes are not genetically engineered.

Twelve years on, St. Louis-based Monsanto remains tight lipped about jettisoning its "New Leaf" potatoes engineered, among other things, to kill Colorado potato beetles. That was a business decision "not influenced by any negative reaction to genetically-modified organisms," spokeswoman Carly Scaduto said.

But experts say plunging interest including from Simplot, which told farmers in Idaho and North Dakota in 2000 to quit planting New Leaf potatoes after restaurants like McDonald's banished them from their fryers drove the spuds from the fields. Monsanto's biotech potatoes, planted on 55,000 acres in North America in 1996, disappeared by 2002.

Joe Guenther, a University of Idaho professor of agricultural economics, in 2011 won funding from Simplot to survey potato industry players about re-introducing genetically engineered potatoes into the food chain. His conclusion: It could succeed, provided potatoes were modified with potato genes, not foreign microorganisms that in the 1990s spawned terms like "frankenfood."

"The Monsanto product crossed that species line," Guenther said. "The exciting thing about the Simplot product is, it stays within the potato species."

Another thing Guenther's 2011 report said would help was backing from an environmental group, something that remains a scarce commodity. Groups worried about corporations commandeering potato genes a decade ago remain no less alarmed.

Bill Freese, science policy analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, said Simplot's potatoes join a litany of other genetically engineered crops that don't face rigorous-enough USDA or FDA testing.

While Simplot's Baker said 20 field trials demonstrate Innate potatoes exhibit characteristics virtually identical to their unmodified cousins, Freese painted a darker picture: Genetic engineering is a noisy, unpredictable process, where the best-intentionedgenome tinkering could be accompanied by unforeseen effects on human health and the environment.

Freese said the absence of long-term animal feeding trials and labeling requirements is also cause for worry, since potatoes are staple crops people eat directly. Freese predicted Innate potatoes will fail, just like Monsanto's did.

"The question is why do they continue to so miscalculate public perception?" he said. "The biotech approach is to change the food on a genetic level in quite frankly risky ways with inadequate regulation to adapt a crop to an industrial food system that's really unhealthy in so many ways."

Simplot's Baker pointed to, among other sources, the FDA, which says genetically-engineered foods it reviews meets the same safety requirements as those from traditionally-bred plants. "The nutrients and allergens are no different from conventional potatoes," he said.

The Washington, D.C.-based National Potato Commission, representing 45,000 U.S. growers, learned of Simplot's plans several months ago. Chief Executive Officer John Keeling said it supports scientific advancements to improve potatoes, but has advised Simplot to avoid past mistakes.

For instance, some Monsanto tubers found their way into Japan, where they weren't approved. After that, Japan-bound U.S. potatoes had to be tested, he said.

"If some parts of the marketplace are saying they don't want Innate technology and others want it, you've got to be able to address both of those issues." Keeling said. "Simplot seems to have taken to heart the thoughts that we had."

Simplot is seeking approval in Japan, as well as Canada, Mexico and South Korea.

* Rangers hope to name new coach before June 30 (Adds quotes and details)

By Larry Fine

May 29 (Reuters) - The New York Rangers have fired head coach John Tortorella after another disappointing early exit from the playoffs, the National Hockey League (NHL) team said on Wednesday.

The decision to release Tortorella, an outspoken coach who has been fined several times by the NHL for his often brusque style with the media, comes four days after the Rangers were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

It marked a disappointing end to a season that started with high expectations after Tortorella led the team to their second most wins all-time with 51 during the 2011-12 campaign before falling in the conference finals.

"Every coach has a shelf life," Rangers General Manager Glen Sather told reporters on a conference call. "I've told every guy that I've hired that at some point in time it's going to change.

"Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. And we didn't achieve that goal this year and I had to make the decision and I did."

Sather made no other staff changes, saying further decisions would wait for the team's organizational meetings next month. He also said he hoped to have a new head coach in place before the NHL Draft on June 30.

Tortorella, 54, compiled a 171-115-29 record with New York since being named the 34th coach in Rangers franchise history in February 2009. He was also an assistant coach for the Rangers for the 1999-2000 campaign, where he served as head coach for the final four games of the season.

Prior to rejoining the Rangers, Tortorella coached the Tampa Bay Lightning for seven seasons and, in 2004, led them to a Stanley Cup championship and was named coach of the year.

For his career, Tortorella has compiled a 410-330-37-67 record and ranks first on the NHL's all-time wins list among U.S.-born head coaches.

During his tenure with the Rangers, the team missed the playoffs once, suffered two opening-round exits and lost in the conference semi-finals and finals once each.

"It wasn't one thing," said Sather, who told also reporters that Tortorella was shocked when told he was fired.

"After the analytical work that we do every year at the end of the season, trying to decide how we are going to improve the team and how we are going to move forward, this is the decision that I made." (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

The FDA said the results of a recent study showed that children exposed to valproate products in the womb had lower IQ at the age of six than children who were exposed to other antiepileptics.

Drugs containing valproate are used to prevent migraine headaches, treat epileptic seizures and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Abbott Laboratories' Depacon, Depakote, Depakote CP, Depakote ER and Depakene, and Noven Therapeutics LLC's Stavzor and their generics contain valproate. (http://r.reuters.com/nej87t)

Drugs containing valproate already carry a boxed warning for birth defects.

"Valproate medications should never be used in pregnant women for the prevention of migraine headaches because we have even more data now that shows the risks to the children outweigh any treatment benefits for this use," FDA's Director of the Division of Neurology Products, Russell Katz said.

This is the second time the FDA has warned on drugs containing valproate. In a June 2011 press release, the regulator had issued interim results of a study showing reduced cognitive functions in three-year-old children exposed to valproate.

(Reporting By Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

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