We think Obama has a few million thank you cards to sign.

Thats according toon 2012 election data that contains a few gems that both parties would be wise to examine.

Among the surprises: Latinos arent as lucrative, votes-wise, as they appear to be yet. And Democrats, , shouldnt get too comfortable.

Here are four lessons the 2012 election post-mortem taught us about the minority vote:

BLACK VOTERS CAN TURN OUT

Voter ID laws. High unemployment among blacks. Low rates of registration. Lack of transportation and access to polling stations.

These were alllast year, but they didnt.

Not only did black voters turn out, their turnout levels surpassed that of whites and most minority groups, including Latinos and Asians, in last years elections.

Though we dont have exact data on the 2012 election turnout breakdown just yet, 2008 turnout data represented the smallest gap on record between whites (66.1 percent turnout) and blacks (65.2 percent turnout). According to the AP-Brookings analysis, 2 million to 5 million fewer whites voted in 2012 than in 2008, erasing that narrow lead.

LATINOS STILL LAG

The same headlines that warned of plummeting black voter turnout in 2012 also trumpeted the , which was supposed to see record levels of Latinos turn out at the polls.

They did, but not at the levels black voters turned out.

Consider this: While blacks make up aboutand 12 percent of the share of eligible voters, they represented 13 percent of the total 2012 votes cast, thereby outperforming their share.

By contrast, Latinos make up 17 percent of the population but just 11 percent of eligible voters and 10 percent of total 2012 votes cast, somewhat underperforming for their share.

In fact, Latinos probably wont surpass the share of eligible black voters until 2024, according to the AP-Brookings analysis.

Why the lower Latino rates?

Latinos may be growing fast, but theyre still , with more than one-third of Latinos (almost 35 percent) younger than the voting age of 18.

Whats more, many Latinos are not yetcitizens and therefore ineligible to vote. Nearly two-thirds of legal Mexican immigrants are not US citizens, and thats not even counting illegal and undocumented immigrants.

BUT THEIR DAY IS COMING

Acould see nearly 11 million immigrants currently here illegally become eligible for US citizenship and voting in as little as 13 years (the bill proposes a 13-year path to citizenship).

If that bill, or some iteration of it, passes, the total share of Latino voters may leap to 16 percent of the electorate by 2026. Under that same scenario, the share of eligible white voters could shrink to less than 64 percent, as the growing minority population edges out white population shares, according to the AP-Brookings report.

The 2008 election was the first year when the minority vote was important to electing a U.S. president. By 2024, their vote will be essential to victory," , a demographer at thesaid . will be looking at a landslide going into 2028 if the new Hispanic voters continue to favor Democrats.

BUT DEMOCRATS SHOULDNT REST TOO EASY

Whatever you heard about , the rainbow coalition is not a sure bet for Democrats in 2016 or for future elections.

In fact, 2012 may have been an exceptional year. Thats because Romney was an exceptionally poor candidate for motivating white voters, let alone minorities, to the polls. And Obama was an exceptionally strong candidate for motivating minorities. Thats a scenario Democrats may not be able to replicate again soon.

The 2012 turnout suggests there is an 'Obama effect' where people were motivated to support Barack Obama, , a political science professor at , told the AP. But it also means that black turnout may not always be higher, if future races aren't as salient.

Or, as GOP consultanttold the AP, It remains to be seen how successful Democrats are if you don't have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket.

Whats more, the GOP is well aware of its minority problem and working overtime to reverse it, starting with comprehensive immigration reform legislation that could make Latinos and Asians more receptive to the GOP in coming elections.

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NABP continues to review and monitor Web sites selling prescription drugs to patients in the United States and its findings are also presented in the report released today of more than 10,000 Web sites analyzed, nearly 97% operate out of compliance with pharmacy laws and practice standards established in the US, and many other developed countries, to protect public health.

Regulatory agencies and public health organizations in the US and abroad indicate that the spread of poor quality and counterfeit medications has proliferated due to illegal distribution by Internet sites, as indicated in the report. For example, the Institute of Medicine has examined the global impact of fake and substandard drugs and notes that illegal online drug sellers contribute significantly to the problem. In addition, INTERPOL, the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, and the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicine have identified rogue Internet drug outlets as primary sources of medications that do not meet regulatory standards in the countries and jurisdictions to which they are distributed.

To address this global public health threat, NABP applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to own and operate the .PHARMACY suffix, referred to as a generic Top-Level Domain. In its application, NABP stated the importance of ensuring that only legitimate Web site operators that adhere to pharmacy laws in the jurisdictions in which they are based and to which they sell medicine will be able to register domain names in .PHARMACY. This includes legitimate online pharmacies and related entities that are located in countries other than the US. NABP, and the global coalition of stakeholders that has encouraged and supported this initiative, contends that requiring .PHARMACY registrants to comply with international standards serves the public interest.

As indicated in the report released today, NABP has reviewed more than 10,400 Web sites and the vast majority of sites (97%) were found to be operating out of compliance with US pharmacy laws and are listed as Not Recommended on NABP's consumer protection Web site, . The 10,082 Internet drug outlets currently listed as Not Recommended are characterized as follows:

To help consumers in the US find the safest sources for purchasing medicine online, NABP developed the VIPPS (Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites) accreditation program. Consumers are encouraged to look for the VIPPS Seal on an accredited site, or check NABP's database on its consumer protection Web site,. The Web site is part of the AWARxE Consumer Protection Program, provided by NABP and the state boards of pharmacy to help educate the public about the risks of Internet drug outlets, and includes news, tips, and links to relevant NABP resources.

For the full report with detailed findings on the characteristics of rogue Web sites, visit .

NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its state member boards and jurisdictions in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health.

SOURCE National Association of Boards of Pharmacy

PARIS (Reuters) - US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) president Travis Tygart accused the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Thursday of failing in its promise to deal with the consequences of the Lance Armstrong scandal.

Speaking before a French Senate investigation committee on doping, Tygart, the man behind Armstrong's fall, said the governing body had taken no action after the cyclist was banned for life for doping his way to seven Tour de France titles.

"It is unacceptable for the UCI to have accepted our reasoned decision, publicly announced that 'decisive action was needed' and simply have done nothing," Tygart said in a 15-minute speech.

The USADA CEO reminded committee members that the UCI had said that only "a transparent and decisive examination of the past would answer the critics".

"Well, the only decisive action came a few weeks later when UCI disbanded the established independent commission when it actually started to act independently by taking off the handcuffs and removing the blindfolds that the UCI had placed on it from the onset," he said.

On January 28, the UCI disbanded the Independent Commission which was investigating the Armstrong affair in favor of a Truth and Reconciliation process -- which has yet to start.

"The UCI's current strategy is to play a stall game, let the cycling season start, let another Tour de France occur, let another six months go by and people will forget," said Tygart.

"Stall or delay yourself out of the problem."

UCI president Pat McQuaid had described Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, who testified against Armstrong, as "scumbags" after the UCI had ratified the USADA's decision to strip Armstrong of his seven Tour titles last October.

"It sends a strong and frightening message to others: you'd better not come forward," Tygart said.

It is time for those who love the sport to finally know the whole truth, Tygart added.

"But for clean athletes and those who share the Olympic values, now is the time for the truth," he said.

"We cannot wait any longer if we mean what we say by Olympic values, about clean play, fair play. The UCI must follow through on what they announced: decisive action."

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index advanced for a sixth straight session on Thursday, helped by resources sectors as U.S. economic data and a stronger-than-expected earnings performance from fertilizer producer Potash Corpbuoyed sentiment.

Investors were encouraged by data showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, offering reassurance that the bottom is not falling out of the U.S. labor market.

Thanks to its string of gains, the Toronto index, which posted its biggest jump in more than eight months on Wednesday, has erased almost all the losses incurred during a massive commodities-led rout earlier this month.

"Valuations of a number of commodity producers are at bargain levels," said Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities in Vancouver.

"They are attractive enough to entice investors who are taking a longer-term view of the situation," he added.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite indexclosed up 59.08 points, or 0.48 percent, at 12,329.51, hitting its highest point since a big selloff on April 15. Nine of the 10 main sectors on the index were higher.

Despite the gains, the index is still down 0.8 percent on the year, compared with a 10.7 percent rise for the S&P 500.

"The TSX is staging a bit of a recovery," said Keith G. Richards, portfolio manager and technical analyst at ValueTrend Wealth Management. "I see this near-term rally as a near-term rally, and that's all."

He said he expects weakness in banks and commodities to hold the index back over the next couple of months.

A 2.7 percent gain in Potash Corp to C$41.72 and a rise in gold-mining shares lifted the index's materials sector 1.8 percent.

The price of bullion posted its biggest daily rise since June 2012 as physical buyers kept scooping up the metal at prices viewed as a bargain after the recent selloff.

Potash said it was abandoning efforts to take over Israel Chemicals Ltdbecause of strong opposition in Israel. The fertilizer giant also reported a stronger-than-expected 13 percent rise in profit after renewed sales to China and India.

"Potash has got near-term upside," Richards said. "Positive news on the stock is going to push it a bit."

Energy shares rose 0.7 percent, reflecting a rise in the price of oil.Shares of Imperial Oil Ltdclimbed 1.1 percent to C$40.51 after Canada's No. 2 oil producer and refiner reported a first-quarter profit.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, gained 0.2 percent.

Business software maker Open Text Corpreported a 25 percent rise in third-quarter adjusted profit as its cloud-based services business expanded. Open Text stock added 12.4 percent to C$64.91, and the index's information technology sector was up 2.7 percent.

($1=$1.02 Canadian)

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Peter Galloway)

Querrey, head down, kept walking. He was gone in a hurry at the Sony Open.

Playing his first tournament as the No. 1 American on the ATP Tour, Querrey lasted only 50 minutes in the fourth round and lost to Tomas Berdych, 6-1, 6-1. His elimination means that for the first time, the 28-year-old tournament will have no American in the men's quarterfinals.

The shutout is the latest sign of declining fortunes for U.S. tennis.

"I guess you could say it's been somewhat of the norm the last couple of years," Querrey said. "It's not like we had guys in the quarters week in, week out."

American results on the women's side have been better lately, thanks mostly to No. 1-ranked Serena Williams. The five-time Key Biscayne champion advanced to Thursday's semifinals and tied the women's record for career victories in the tournament by beating No. 5-seeded Li Na 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Williams' opponent in the semifinals Thursday will be defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who hit a desperation shot behind her back for a winner en route to a win over No. 30 Kirsten Flipkens, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

While Williams continues to dominate the WTA Tour, no American man has reached the past five Grand Slam quarterfinals. The outlook wasn't helped by the retirement of Andy Roddick, whose 2003 U.S. Open championship is the most recent major title by a U.S. male.

Querrey was playing his first tournament as the top American, and he managed his best showing in eight appearances at Key Biscayne, aided by a walkover in the third round. His serve and forehand let him down against Berdych, however. The 6-foot-6 Querrey came into tournament second on the tour in aces this year, but he had only four against Berdych, and made only 39 percent of his first serves.

"Just one of those awful days," Querrey said. "The more you miss, the harder it gets to get the ball in. It just kept getting worse."

No. 2 Andy Murray, the champion in 2009 and runner-up last year, returned to the quarterfinals by beating No. 16 Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4. His opponent Wednesday will be No. 9 Marin Cilic, who defeated No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 (4).

No. 8 Richard Gasquet hit 17 aces, including three in the final tiebreaker, defeated No. 10 Nicolas Almagro 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (3). Gasquet will next face No. 4 Berdych.

No. 3 David Ferrer beat No. 13 Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-2. Ferrer's opponent Wednesday will be unseeded Jurgen Melzer, who rallied past Albert Ramos 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

No. 11 Gilles Simon rallied past No. 7 Janko Tipsarevic 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Querrey will remain No. 1 in the United States next week and stay close to his current ranking of 20th. Last week he overtook fellow American John Isner, who is ranked 23rd and lost in the third round Monday.

But Querrey, 25, wants more. He has yet to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in 24 tries, he's 11-37 against top-10 players, and he has reached only one final since 2010.

He realizes some might see his U.S. ranking as tainted, given the nation's rich tradition of tennis achievement.

"The goal is not to be the No. 1 American," Querrey said. "I want to be one of the best players in the world.

"With this No. 1, I'd feel better if I was ranked higher. If you look at the previous No. 1 Americans, they have all, for the most part, hit the top 10. But I feel like I'm just going to keep getting better and hopefully improving, and hopefully I can hit the top 10 while being the No. 1 American."

Querrey is part of the Davis Cup team that will face Serbia and top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals April 5-7 in Boise, Idaho.

"I know the U.S.," Querrey said. "We get ripped a lot for not having a lot of guys in the top 20. If we were to win a Davis Cup, I think that would silence some people even if we didn't have guys in the top 10 or even a few guys in the top 20."

Or in the quarterfinals.

Williams was the lone U.S. woman to reach the final eight. When she smacked a winner on match point to seal the victory over Li, she jumped for joy cannonball-style, knees high and fist raised.

"I don't usually leap like that in the quarterfinal," Williams said. "But it was just a good shot."

She improved to 59-7 in the tournament. Steffi Graf, another five-time champion, went 59-6.

"I hope to get more," Williams said.

Assured of remaining No. 1 next week, Williams will play Thursday against the winner of the quarterfinal Tuesday night between defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 30-seeded Kirsten Flipkens.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate negotiators on Tuesday were putting the finishing touches on a bipartisan immigration bill as labor and agriculture groups argued about restrictions on immigrant farmworkers and their pay, lawmakers and officials involved in the negotiations said.

"We're making progress. We're trying to get it done this week," Senator John McCain told reporters.

The Arizona Republican is one of eight Democrats and Republicans in the Senate trying to cobble together a complicated bill that would update immigration laws for the first time since 1986.

In recent weeks, labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce reached tentative agreement on the handling of low-skilled workers from foreign countries who would work as construction laborers, maids and waiters.

That left one big unresolved matter: the rules for bringing foreign farmworkers into the United States to harvest crops, milk cows and work on poultry and cattle operations.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently estimated that of the 1.1 million workers in agriculture, 500,000-700,000 are undocumented.

At a speech this week to agriculture journalists, Vilsack said that assuring a strong labor supply is a matter of importing workers versus importing food. "We risk the possibility of some of the work we do in this country moving to other nations," he said.

The agriculture industry and farmworker groups have been haggling over the cap that would be set under the Senate bill for foreign farm labor, whether those already in the United States would be allowed to stay and pay levels for the temporary workers.

"We want to make sure farmworkers are making at least as much money as they are today, not less," Diana Tellefson Torres, a United Farm Workers vice president, told the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting.

Craig Regelbrugge, co-chair of an agriculture industry coalition, said labor can account for one-third of the cost of production of fruits and vegetables, so wage rates are important. Noting the need for a high cap on farmworker visas compared to other sectors, he said, "what's different about agriculture is it's the nation's food supply."

But some labor groups fear that too many foreign workers would depress U.S. wages or kill some American jobs.

Regelbrugge said there are discussions of a new visa that would run more than 12 months so immigrant laborers do not have to routinely exit the U.S. for brief periods, leaving farms short-handed. While some growers need help only at harvest, dairies and livestock feeders need workers all year.

FAST-TRACK IN SENATE

The linchpin of the immigration bill would end deportation fears for most of the approximately 11 million people who are living in the United States illegally, many from Central America and Asia. The legislation would eventually put many of them on a path to citizenship, if further progress was made in securing the southwestern border with Mexico.

The eight senators outlined their proposal in late January and have been struggling to fill in the details of a bill that could move quickly through the Senate once it is unveiled.

If a bill is introduced by Monday, Senate aides said it could be debated, and possibly amended, in the Senate Judiciary Committee by April 18, with a committee vote by April 25, just before the start of a week-long Senate recess.

Under this accelerated timetable, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would try to schedule a full Senate debate in May.

However, delays are possible at any point in the process.

Republicans, who have opposed any moves to grant citizenship to undocumented residents, began taking an active interest in immigration changes after Hispanic-Americans voted against them in droves in the November 2012 election.

With the 2014 congressional elections around the corner, immigration reform advocates are hoping Congress can handle this issue in 2013, before campaign rhetoric heats up and possibly spoils chances for a bipartisan deal.

Supporters also want a strong, bipartisan showing in the Senate for legislation, which they think will propel it through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where there are more conservatives lawmakers who could reject a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented.

The House might try to pass immigration bills in a piecemeal fashion that could be merged with a Senate-passed bill. Some aides have said the House bill might require a longer wait time than the Senate bill for undocumented residents to earn citizenship - as long as 15 years, versus 10 to 13 years in the Senate bill.

(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

The AP released the following statement at 1:12 p.m.: "The (at)AP twitter account has been hacked. The tweet about an attack at the White House is false. We will advise more as soon as possible."

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 150 points after the fake Twitter posting, then quickly recovered.

Other markets also reacted to the fake posting.

The price of crude oil fell, then rose back. The yield on the benchmark U.S. government bond, the 10-year Treasury note, briefly dropped as traders shifted money into low-risk investments.

The turmoil lasted for about five minutes. By about 1:13 p.m., stocks, bonds and crude oil were all trading about where they were before the fake tweet was posted.

The stock market started higher Tuesday following strong earnings across a range of U.S. industries. Makers of handbags, jet planes and chemical products all turned in good results for the first quarter, reviving investors' confidence after a sharp downturn in the stock market last week.

Coach, Lockheed Martin, DuPont and Travelers were among the winners after they reported results that were better than analysts expected. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both rose nearly 1 percent in morning trading, putting them on track for a third straight day of gains.

A resurgence in corporate profits after the Great Recession has been one of the drivers that pushed both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index to record levels this year. However investors are starting to question how much further company earnings can improve without the outlook for growth in the global economy improving as well.

Tuesday's upturn in stocks put both indexes back in the black for April and closer to the record high closes they reached on April 11. It was a sharp change of tone from last week, when the market had its worst drop since November. That sell-off started after economic growth in China, the world's second-largest economy, slowed.

So far, about 70 percent of the companies that reported earnings for the first quarter have beaten analysts' expectations, better than the 10-year average of 62 percent, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Analysts currently expect earnings to rise by 2.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with 7.7 percent growth in the previous three-month period.

Netflix soared 25 percent to $219 after reporting a big gain in subscribers in the first quarter late yesterday. Coach, which makes Luxury handbags and other accessories, soared 11 percent to $56.44. Lockheed rose 2 percent to $97.25. DuPont and Travelers each rose 3 percent, to $51.88 and $86.88.

The Dow was up 123 points at 14,691 as of 1:45 p.m. The S&P 500 was 14 points higher at 1,576. Both indexes are 1 percent below their record high closes from nearly two weeks ago.

The Nasdaq composite rose 34 points to 3,267.

Crudedropped about 60 cents after the fake tweet, to $88.40 from $89, then quickly recouped that loss. At 1:45 it was down 22 cents to $88.98

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was 1.70 percent, unchanged from late Monday.

Apple, the biggest component in the index, reports earnings after the market closes. Apple has lost 23 percent of its value this year. Investor worry that demand for the iPhone is waning as competitors like Samsung sell more smartphones. It stock was up 2 percent at $405.

The game, called "Pyongyang Racer," is a simple Web browser game that allows players to drive a car around North Korea's capitol city of Pyongyang, according to . Players must avoid hitting cars and collect gasoline in the form of petrol barrels to keep their run going as long as possible all while getting warnings from one of Pyongyang's famously picturesque traffic girls.

"Pyongyang Racer" has an unusual development history as a video game. The North Korean programmers who made the game work for Nosotek, a Western company that describes itself as the "first western IT venture" in North Korea.

Nosotek's North Korean programmers previously made mobile-phone games based on the Hollywood films "The Big Lebowski" and "Men in Black." Those games ended up getting published through a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (owner of Fox News), according to .

Nosotek claims to have "attracted the cream of local talent as the only company in Pyongyang offering Western working conditions and Internet access." That would likely be true in North Korea, given the nuclear-armed country's pariah status among Western countries and businesses.

The Nosotek website also praises the advantages of working in North Korea because "IP secrecy and minimum employee churn rate are structurally guaranteed." Translation: North Korean programmers would likely never leave Nosotek with the company's intellectual property secrets because they have practically no other employment options.

Nosotek built the game for Koryo Tours, a company based in Beijing, China, to distribute "Pyongyang Racer" through the Koryo Tours website. Koryo Tours is currently the leading company that runs tours offor Westerners and other foreigners.

"This game was developed in 2012 and is not intended to be a high-end technological wonder hit game of the 21st century, but more a fun race game (arcade style) where you drive around in Pyongyang and learn more about the sites and get a glimpse of Pyongyang," Koryo Tours said on the game's website.

This story was provided by , a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter . Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter , or on .

Putin on Thursday approved the actor's application for Russian citizenship, causing a scandal in France, where Depardieu has been fighting a proposed 75 percent income tax on the superrich.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying Depardieu arrived Saturday in Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and could meet with Putin on Saturday evening.

Peskov said "it cannot be excluded that during the meeting Depardieu could receive a passport."

A second later, the he stepped off and barrelled toward a U.S. desert as a white speck against a dark sky. The Austrian-born Baumgartner shattered the sound barrier and landed safely about nine minutes later, becoming the world's first supersonic skydiver.

"When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data," Baumgartner said after Sunday's jump. "The only thing you want is to come back alive."

The jump was part scientific wonder, part reality show, with the live-streamed event capturing the world's attention on a sleepy Sunday. It proved, once again, the power of the Internet in a world where news travels as fast as Twitter.

The event happened without a network broadcast in the United States, though organizers said more than 40 television stations in 50 countries including cable's Discovery Channel in the U.S. carried the live feed. Instead, people flocked online, with more than 8 million simultaneous views of a YouTube live stream at its peak, YouTube officials said.

More than 130 digital outlets carried the feed, organizers said.

The privately funded feat came during a lull in human space exploration. As the jump unfolded, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour crept toward a Los Angeles museum, where it will spend its retirement on display.

The 43-year-old Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph (1,341.97 kph), according to preliminary data, and became the first person to go faster than the speed of sound without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft. The capsule he jumped from reached an altitude of 128,100 feet (39,044 metres), carried by a 55-story, ultra-thin helium balloon.

Landing on his feet in the desert, the man known as "Fearless Felix" lifted his arms in victory to the cheers of friends and spectators. His mother, Eva Baumgartner, cried.

"Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are," an exuberant Baumgartner told reporters.

About half of Baumgartner's descent was a free fall of 119,846 feet (36,529 metres), according to Brian Utley, a jump observer from the FAI, an international group that works to determine and maintain the integrity of aviation records.

During the first part of Baumgartner's free fall, he spun uncontrollably. He said he felt pressure building in his head but did not feel as though he was close to passing out.

"When I was spinning first 10, 20 seconds, I never thought I was going to lose my life, but I was disappointed because I'm going to lose my record. I put seven years of my life into this," he said.

He added: "In that situation, when you spin around, it's like hell and you don't know if you can get out of that spin or not. Of course it was terrifying. I was fighting all the way down because I knew that there must be a moment where I can handle it."

Baumgartner said travelling faster than sound is "hard to describe because you don't feel it." The pressurized suit prevented him from feeling the rushing air or even the loud noise he made when breaking the sound barrier.

With no reference points, "you don't know how fast you travel," he said.

Baumgartner's accomplishment came on the 65th anniversary of the day that U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to officially break the sound barrier in a jet. Yeager commemorated that feat on Sunday, flying in the back seat of an F-15 Eagle as it broke the sound barrier at more than 30,000 feet (9,144 metres) above California's Mojave Desert.

At Baumgartner's insistence, some 30 cameras recorded his stunt. Shortly after the launch early Sunday, screens at mission control showed the capsule, dangling from the massive balloon, as it rose gracefully above the New Mexico desert. Baumgartner could be seen on video, calmly checking instruments inside.

The dive was more than just a stunt. The U.S. space agency NASA, which was not involved in the jump, is eager to improve its spacecraft and spacesuits for emergency escape.

Baumgartner's team included Joe Kittinger, who first tried to break the sound barrier from 19.5 miles (31 kilometres) up in 1960, reaching speeds of 614 mph (988 kph). With Kittinger inside mission control, the two men could be heard going over technical details during the ascension.

"Our guardian angel will take care of you," Kittinger radioed to Baumgartner.

On Twitter, half the worldwide trending topics had something to do with the jump.

This attempt marked the end of a long road for Baumgartner, a record-setting high-altitude jumper. He has said this was his final jump.

The sponsor, beverage maker Red Bull, has never said how much the complex project cost.

Baumgartner failed to break Kittinger's record for the longest free fall, at 4 minutes and 36 seconds. Baumgartner's free fall was timed at 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

"I was putting everything out there and hope for the best, and if we left one record for Joe hey it's fine," Baumgartner said when asked if he intentionally left the record for Kittinger to hold. "We needed Joe Kittinger to help us break his own record, and that tells the story of how difficult it was and how smart they were in the '60s. He is 84 years old, and he is still so bright and intelligent and enthusiastic".

Baumgartner has said he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the U.S. and Austria.

Before that, though, he said, "I'll go back to LA to chill out for a few days."

___

Garcia reported from Honolulu. He can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia .

___

AP Science Writer Alicia Chang and Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.