NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A U.S. magistrate judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $60,000 fine on Monday for federal tax evasion.

Hill pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million of income between 2005 and 2007 and faced up to three years in prison.

Hill has attributed her failure to pay taxes to years of pressure she experienced as a recording star while raising six children, forcing her to go underground and stay out of the public eye.

On the eve of her scheduled sentencing, Hill paid $504,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and another $420,000 to the state of New Jersey, her attorney told the court. She still owes another $285,000 in interest and penalties.

"When the government is asking for 36 months and the judge gives three months, I think the judge gave a fair and reasonable sentence," Hill's attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 30 months to the maximum of 36 months.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo cited Hill's lack of a criminal record, her six children and her repayment of the back taxes as mitigating factors in the sentence.

Hill must report on or before July 8. Her attorney asked the court to assign the native of South Orange, New Jersey, to a facility close to home. The three months of home confinement following the prison stay is part of one year of supervised probation.

Hill told the court she pulled away from society because her life was in crisis, received veiled threats and was blacklisted because she did not conform to the norms of the music industry.

"I was being perceived as a cash cow, not a person," Hill said.

A new single by Hill, her first in several years, called "Neurotic Society," was posted on iTunes on Friday.

"Here is a link to a piece that I was 'required' to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline," her Tumblr social media page said on Saturday.

Her lawyers confirmed that she signed a new contract with Sony Worldwide Entertainment and was working on her first album of new material in more than a decade.

Hill's seminal 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" won the singer, a former member of the Fugees rap trio, five Grammy awards.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta, Andrew Hay and Philip Barbara)

Spokesman Khursheed Alam said on Thursday that the figure includes police, paramilitary forces and 50,000 soldiers who will be deployed around the country for the May 11 vote.

He says the Election Commission of Pakistan would have about 5-10 security personnel at each polling station.

Alam says the Commission is setting up about 73,000 polling stations in Pakistan to ensure a free and fair vote.

The upcoming election is historic as it will mark the first transfer of power between democratically elected governments in this Islamic nation that has experienced three military coups since 1947.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) was passed by House vote on April 18. , as 42 Democrats voted for the bill, while 28 Republicans voted against it.

The Huffington Post, among others,that a committee staffer for Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Commerce Committee chair, told it that the Senate will not consider the bill for a vote.

Similar reports had surfaced late last week that the House version of CISPA wouldnt see life on the Senate floor. indicated that Rockefeller thought the bill lacked adequate privacy protections.

President Barack Obama had indicated he would veto CISPA if it came to his desk.

The Senate will reportedly work on its own cybersecurity bill, or bills, in the coming months. An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said last week that a Senate bill would force companies to block sensitive user data from government access in real time.

Thesaid as many as three Senate bills might be introduced. But they would need to be approved by the House after passage.

At the heart of CISPA is aissue.

The amendment reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

CISPA was designed to let the federal government work with private companies to fight hackers and cybercriminals in and outside of the United States. As part of the effort to detect cyber threats, private companies could voluntarily share with the government data in real time about Internet users. The personal data of users wouldnt be screened from the data feed.

Another proposed part of CISPA would have designated the National Security Agency as the recipient of the data feed. But the House changed the bill at the last moment to allow the civilian-run Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department as gatekeepers of cybersecurity data.

Another CISPA criticism was that a warrant wasnt needed for the government to obtain that information. And companies that share your information wont be held legally liable for sharing it, a practice that seemingly conflicts with privacy policies on existing websites.

Mike Rogers, a Republican representative from Michigan and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, has been leading the CISPA effort, along with Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland.

Rogers believes the measure is long needed. People were stealing their identities, their accounts, their intellectual property, and subsequent to that, their jobs, he recently said. [Web users] began to question the value of getting on Internet and using [it] for commercial purposes. Their trust in the free and open Internet was at risk.

He has also stressed that participation in CISPA is voluntary for companies.

Unlike SOPA, the failed legislative attempt last year to halt online piracy, large tech companies were supporting the efforts to get CISPA passed.

At one time, Facebook and Microsoft had signed on to support CISPA, but now they are reportedly backing away. Google appears to be on the fence about the issue.

Major communications and utilities companies support CISPA, according to .

Last year, the House passed a similar CISPA bill, only to see it die in the Senate. Last August, a successful filibuster blocked CISPA from getting to the floor for a vote. Both libertarians and liberals had issues with the bill, and there were disagreements about which government agencies would be involved with CISPA.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (Reuters) - Chris Paul drove right, stumbled forward, leaned back and banked in a game-winning shot that lifted the Los Angeles Clippers to a crucial playoff win on Monday and elevated his status as one of the game's top closers.

While Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are often noted as fourth-quarter assassins, it is the diminutive six-foot (1.83m) Paul who provided the signature moment of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs thus far.

Paul's last-second jumper gave the Clippers a 93-91 victory and a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series with the Memphis Grizzlies that left the home crowd buzzing.

"He's so stubborn and strong-willed. There's not too many players like that," Clippers forward Lamar Odom told Reuters, likening Paul's clutch play to former team mate Bryant.

"It's all about their mentality. He just didn't take no for an answer."

Paul finished with 24 points and nine assists, and got the final say in a duel with Grizzlies guard Mike Conley, who had a playoff-career-high 28 points and nine rebounds, but it was the timing of his points that made all the difference.

As Los Angeles let a 12-point advantage slip away in the fourth quarter, Paul scored the last eight points for his team in what has become a familiar occurrence for the Clippers.

Blake Griffin's scene-stealing athleticism is the high point of a deep and exciting roster, but when it comes to the last 12 minutes of a close game the offense begins and ends with point guard Paul.

"Any time we get in those positions, he's our closer and we look for him to close games out," said Clippers guard Chauncey Billups, nicknamed 'Mr. Big Shot' for his own ability to make crucial buckets during his career.

"All great players are not clutch. Chris has proved to be one of the best clutch players in the NBA."

It is that intangible of Paul's that has resuscitated the Clippers franchise and helped them steal some billing from the crosstown rival Lakers.

When the Clippers traded for the All Star guard prior to the 2011-12 NBA season they were looking to reverse a painful history of losing.

Paul quickly cured that with his fierce competitiveness and fearlessness in the closing stages of games. The Clippers beat the Grizzlies to reach the second round of the playoffs last year and captured a maiden Pacific Division crown this season.

"I don't think it's that dramatic," said Paul, of the big moment. "It's just basketball."

It certainly felt that dramatic to everyone else Monday when Paul blew past Memphis defender Tony Allen, lofted a shot over Darrell Arthur and raised his reputation to yet a new height.

Even opponent Conley felt the weight of the play.

"That's what great players do," Conley said. "We did our best to defend him. He just hit a tough shot." (Editing by Frank Pingue)

This woman, whose romance with a bishop and eventual marriage became a major scandal in the 1960s, is such a close friend with Pope Francis that he called her every Sunday when he was Argentina's leading cardinal.

Luro's convinced that he will eventually lead the global church to end mandatory priestly celibacy, a requirement she says "the world no longer understands." She believes this could resolve a global shortage of priests, and persuade many Catholics who are no longer practicing to recommit themselves to the church.

"I think that in time priestly celibacy will become optional," Luro said in an interview with The Associated Press in her home in Buenos Aires, after sending an open letter to the pope stating her case. "I'm sure that Francis will suggest it."

John Paul II, Benedict XVI and other popes before them forbade any open discussion of changing the celibacy rule, and Francis hasn't mentioned the topic since becoming pope last month.

"I don't see how in any way this would form part of his agenda," said the Rev. Robert Gahl, an Opus Dei moral theologian at the Pontifical Holy Cross University in Rome.

But as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he referred to the issue of celibacy in ways that have inspired advocates to think that the time for a change has come.

In his book "On Heaven and Earth," published last year, Bergoglio said: "For the moment I'm in favor of maintaining celibacy, with its pros and cons, because there have been 10 centuries of good experiences rather than failures." But he also noted that "it's a question of discipline, not of faith. It could change," and said the Eastern Rite Catholic church, which makes celibacy optional, has good priests as well.

"In the hypothetical case that the church decides to revise this rule ... it would be for a cultural reason, as with the case of the Eastern church, where they ordain married men," he said in "Pope Francis. Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio," re-published last month by his authorized biographers, Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti.

Luro and her husband, the former bishop of Avellaneda, Jeronimo Podesta, felt ostracized from the church for many years, but she says Bergoglio didn't hesitate to minister to them when Podesta was hospitalized before his death in 2000. They became such good friends thereafter that Luro said Bergoglio called her every Sunday for 12 years, and often discussed the celibacy issue as they debated all sorts of hot topics in private conversations.

Luro now feels that the cardinals' election of a Jesuit and Vatican outsider who is committed to expanding the global church and reaffirming its commitment to the poor shows their willingness to undertake profound changes to stem an exodus of the faithful.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and Vatican analyst at Georgetown University, said a first step might be for Francis to simply signal that it's OK to debate the issue.

"The Vatican led by John Paul and Benedict said that certain topics were just off the table, and any bishop who discussed them would be in trouble. And theologians who wrote about them would get into trouble. So this is part of a bigger question of how much open discussion Pope Francis is going to allow in the church," Reese said.

"This would be exactly the kind of open discussion that the Vatican does not like," Reese added. "Their attitude is that you shouldn't confuse the children by having the parents argue."

Canon 277 of the Vatican's legal code reads: "Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and are therefore bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbor."

Still, celibacy is not dogma a law of divine origin but a tradition of the Roman Catholic church. Dogma cannot change, but traditions can.

"We're very enthusiastic and hopeful that Francis could reverse this canonic measure," said Guillermo Schefer, a former priest who along with his wife, Natalia Bertoldi, are vice presidents of the Latin-American Federation of Married Priests. "It's important that the priests can also opt for a life of marriage and family. It would help them integrate more with the people."

In the Eastern Rite Catholic Church, seminarians who are already married can be ordained later as priests. Some married Anglican priests also have been allowed to convert to Roman Catholicism, and some widowers with families have become priests later.

But as Gahl notes, no Roman Catholic tradition allows men who have already "married the church" to later marry a wife. This would create a divided heart, a weakened commitment, and go against much of what Francis has said since becoming pope about the need for priests to deny themselves earthly pleasures as they spread the Gospel, he said.

"He's been preaching this pretty much every morning" at the Vatican, Gahl said. Advocates for optional celibacy are "saying priesthood is too hard; why don't we make it easier? But what the pope is saying is, "If you make this sacrifice, it would bring you pure joy.' "

Those resisting change say celibacy has other benefits, not least among them financial: Imagine if the world's 400,000 Roman Catholic priests all had families, presumably large ones given the church's ban on contraception. Suddenly, relatively meager priestly salaries would have to increase exponentially.

Still, tens of thousands of priests have left their ministries to marry, and many others, particularly in Africa and Latin America, have remained while having relationships with women and children on the side. Bergoglio condemns that practice in his books.

"What I won't permit is the double life," he said. "If he can't carry on his ministry, I tell him to stay home, that we seek a papal dispensation, and that way he can receive the sacrament of marriage."

Benedict reaffirmed mandatory celibacy in response to a high-profile crusade by a married African archbishop who was excommunicated after defying the Vatican and ordaining four married men as bishops.

Bergoglio's great friend Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil got into hot water when he noted that priestly celibacy is not a matter of divine law during a 2006 newspaper interview he gave before arriving in Rome to take over the Vatican's office for the world's priests. It sparked such speculation about a potential change that Hummes had to issue a lengthy statement reaffirming celibacy.

Luro was 39, separated and with six children when she met Podesta, then 45, in 1966. He was already a bishop, and very committed to social causes, advocating liberation theology as part of the Movement of Third World Priests.

"I was the first woman for Jeronimo," she recalls. Far from hiding it, they made their relationship public and launched a campaign for optional celibacy that took them to the Vatican's doors. Shortly thereafter, Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical "Sacerdotalis Caelibatus" in 1967, ratifying priestly vows of perpetual celibacy.

Luro said Bergoglio's Sunday phone calls were a huge support for her. "We would speak of the church, we debated. I sent him Jeronimo's writings."

And after becoming Francis, he called her again, she said. Out of respect for the pope, she won't say what he told her.

---

Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.31 percent from 3.30 percent. Six weeks ago, it hit a record low of 3.26 percent.

Rates have been below 5 percent for all but two weeks this year. Yet this year could be the worst for home sales in 14 years.

Mortgage applications fell 10 percent this week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many Americans don't want to sink money into a home that could lose value over the next three to four years. And most homeowners who can afford to refinance already have.

The low rates have caused a modest boom in refinancing, but that benefit might be wearing off. Most people who can afford to refinance have already locked in rates below 5 percent. Refinancing fell 12.2 percent last week, according to the mortgage bankers group.

The average rates don't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fees for the 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages were unchanged at 0.7.

The average rate on the five-year adjustable loan fell to 2.97 percent from 2.98 percent. The average rate on the one-year adjustable loan increased to 2.98 percent from 2.95 percent.

The average fees on the five-year and one-year adjustable loans were both unchanged at 0.6.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The people and information sources parents surround themselves with may influence their choice to vaccinate their children or not, according to a survey from one county in Washington state.

Of almost 200 parents who took the survey, almost all said they had groups of people offering advice on vaccination, but those who chose not to fully vaccinate their children were more likely to have larger social groups and to turn to other sources, such as books, pamphlets and the Internet, for guidance.

"The take-home message from this is that the social networks for the majority of parents are extremely important in affecting vaccination decisions," said Emily Brunson, the study's author from Texas State University in San Marcos.

"Especially the people in the parents' networks suggesting nonconformity is greater than anything else - including the parents' own beliefs on vaccination," she added.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends young children under the age of six years old get a series of shots that protect against 14 preventable diseases, including chickenpox, measles and whooping cough.

The latest report on vaccination rates from the CDC shows 95 percent of kindergarten-aged children receive their vaccinations, but many children still receive their shots late (see Reuters story of August 23, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/YimdGn and Reuters Health story of January 21, 2013 here: http://reut.rs/YimPvG).

The fear is that parents who don't vaccinate or who delay vaccinating their children put their own kids as well as others at risk for developing preventable disease, such as whooping cough.

Last year the U.S. experienced one of the largest whooping cough outbreaks in half a century, which health officials attributed both to vaccines wearing off and to parents simply skipping the pertussis vaccinations for their children (see Reuters story of July 20, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/Yina1x).

For the new study, Brunson surveyed parents to see what impact a person's social group and information sources had on their decision to vaccinate their children.

The people who took the survey were recruited from around King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle, and were U.S.-born, first-time parents with children younger than 18 months old.

Overall, 126 "conformers" - people who vaccinated their children according to the recommended schedule, and 70 "nonconformers" - people who didn't stick to the schedule - took the survey between March and July 2010.

Of those 70 "nonconformers," 28 were getting their children all the recommended shots, but not on time. Another 37 were only partially vaccinating their children and five were not vaccinating their children at all.

About 95 percent of all parents reported having a group of people offering advice on vaccination, but "nonconformers" tended to have larger groups of people to tap for information than "conformers."

"Nonconformers" typically reported about seven people who gave them advice, compared to about five people in "conformer's" social groups.

The people included in those groups were similar among the two types of parents. Spouses and partners were usually the most important advisers, followed by doctors, family and then friends.

Typically, "nonconformers'" groups included about 72 percent of people who recommended against vaccination in some way. That compared to 13 percent among "conformers."

"Nonconformers" were also more likely to seek outside sources, such as books, news programs and the Internet. Compared to 80 percent of "conformers" who said they used those outside sources, all "nonconformers" said they did.

Brunson writes in the journal Pediatrics that her findings show healthcare providers are only a part of parents' social networks.

She adds that it's essential for programs trying to increase vaccination rates to also focus on "communities more broadly so that the other people parents are likely to consult are also included."

Dr. Joseph Anthony Bocchini, Jr., chairman of Pediatrics Medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, said the new study adds additional information by using a social network approach for the first time to understand parents' decisions about vaccinating their children.

"I think that what needs to be done is that everybody needs to understand the importance of vaccines. And they're not only important for the people who receive them but they're also important for the community," said Bocchini, who was not involved in the new research.

He said that in addition to doctors, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC have valuable information on their websites about vaccinations for children.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/HjQ8dI Pediatrics, online April 15, 2013.

LILONGWE (Reuters) - The Malawi government has branded pop star Madonna an "uncouth" bully who exaggerates her charitable work in the country and demands preferential treatment when she visits.

Malawi President Joyce Banda's government accused the "Material Girl" of bullying officials after she complained about her latest trip to the southern African country this month.

"Among the many things that Madonna needs to learn as a matter of urgency is the decency of telling the truth," said an 11-point statement from Malawi's State House.

Media reports said Madonna and her children were forced to join a check-in queue and go through security with ordinary passengers at a Malawi airport when they left the country.

The "Holiday" singer dismissed Malawi's comments as "lies" in a statement on the website of her Raising Malawi foundation.

"I'm saddened that Malawi's President Joyce Banda has chosen to release lies about what we've accomplished, my intentions, how I personally conducted myself while visiting Malawi and other untruths," Madonna said.

Malawi said Madonna expected the government to be forever chained in an "obligation of gratitude" towards her for adopting two Malawian children and contributing to the construction of classrooms in the country.

"Kindness, as far as its ordinary meaning is concerned, is free and anonymous. If it can't be free and silent, it is not kindness; it is something else," the statement said. "Blackmail is the closest it becomes."

The singer said she came to Malawi seven years ago with honorable intentions and returned earlier this month to view the new schools built by her foundation.

"I did not ever ask or demand special treatment at the airport or elsewhere during my visit," Madonna said.

"I will not be distracted or discouraged by other people's political agendas. I made a promise to the children of Malawi and I am keeping that promise."

She said the disagreement was rooted in her history with President Banda's sister, Anjimile Mtila Oponyo, who once headed Raising Malawi. Oponyo was fired and sued the charity for wrongful termination.

The Malawi government said in its statement the current dispute had nothing to do with Oponyo, however.

"For her to accuse Mrs. Oponyo for indiscretions that have clearly arisen from her personal frustrations that her ego has not been massaged by the state is uncouth, and speaks volumes of a musician who desperately thinks she must generate recognition by bullying state officials instead of playing decent music on the stage."

(Writing by Paul Casciato; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

DENVER (AP) -- Seven weeks after a tragedy on the snowmobile course marred the Winter X Games, ESPN decided to scrap the best trick competition, saying it was a move the network had been considering before Caleb Moore's death in Aspen, Colo.

Moore, a 25-year-old from Krum, Texas, died from injuries he sustained when his 450-pound sled rolled over him after a backflip gone wrong during a freestyle competition, which will remain part of the X Games program. In this year's best trick contest, a rider lost control of his machine after falling off and it veered into the netting close to fans.

ESPN spokesman Danny Chi explained to The Associated Press in an email Tuesday that the elimination of the best trick discipline was being contemplated before Aspen and that "our review of snowmobile freestyle continues."

"We will focus on motor sports disciplines that engage athletes who consistently compete in multiple global competitions reflective of the global reach of X Games," Chi wrote in the email.

In a statement, ESPN said the change "reflects our decision to focus on motor sports disciplines which feature athletes who also compete in multiple, world-class competitions (e.g., professional events and tours) reflecting the highest degree of athlete participation, competitive development and the global nature of our X Games franchise."

The Summer X Games will eliminate a similar competition Moto X best trick. Other motorcycle competitions will still be held.

The safety of snowmobiles came under scrutiny after the two accidents last January.

Moore stayed down for quite some time after his crash before walking off with help and being taken to a hospital to be treated for a concussion. He developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore also had a complication involving his brain.

He died Jan. 31, a week after his accident. It was the first death in the 18-year history of the X Games.

In the best trick event, Summer X Games motocross champion turned snowmobile newcomer Jackson Strong tumbled off his machine after a failed maneuver, only to have the throttle stick when it landed and the snowmobile swerve toward the crowd as fans scrambled to get out of the way. No one was seriously injured.

Winter X officials recently scratched a snowmobile freestyle demonstration set for later this month in Tignes, France, so organizers could review safety protocols.

___

ESPN is owned by The Walt Disney Co.

Kevin Wilson was being held Thursday on $8,000 bail at the Henderson city jail pending a court appearance on felony burglary and destruction of property charges.

Henderson police say the 51-year-old Wilson got out of his Kia Spectra, smashed furniture and knocked holes in the walls at Central Christian Church before police arrested him about 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Police spokesman Keith Paul says a city building inspector later determined the church building remained structurally sound.

A court date wasn't set, and it wasn't immediately clear if Wilson had an attorney.

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Information from: KLAS-TV, http://www.klas-tv.com