German world time trial champion Martin, who suffered concussion in a mass crash on the race's first stage, blasted round the flat 33-km course in 36 minutes 29 seconds.

Froome, adorned in the race leader's yellow jersey, was the last man down the start ramp and was two seconds quicker than Martin at 22km.

But the Team Sky rider could not maintain the pace pedaling into a headwind over the latter part of the stage and finished 12 seconds down on Martin, with Belgian Thomas De Gendt third.

Froome, Olympic time trial bronze medalist, was the big winner of the day, though, gaining two minutes on his nearest rival in the race standings and now leads Spain's Alejandro Valverde by 3:25.

Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands remains third overall 3:37 back with twice Tour champion Alberto Contador fourth at 3:54.

(Editing by Alison Wildey)

Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts, accused of murdering his friend Odin Lloyd. Also Wednesday, Browns rookie linebacker Ausar Walcott was charged with attempted murder in New Jersey.

Both players were cut later in the day by their teams. On Thursday, the league said any club that now wants to sign Hernandez will face a hearing with Commissioner Roger Goodell first.

The question now is whether the veteran tight end and the rookie should have been in the league at all.

"It is difficult, it's always a balancing act," says Tony Dungy, who won a Super Bowl as Colts coach and has served as a mentor to players since leaving the NFL, including Michael Vick after the quarterback served federal prison time for dogfighting. "The league has a security department that sends out information, and every team is different in terms of how much its scouting department does and what areas are concentrated on most.

"It's really a matter of what you do with the information and what your organization feels is important. One thing you have to keep in mind is a lot of the (negative) things that happen come when they are 15 or 17 or 19 years old."

According to FBI statistics cited by the league, the incidence of NFL players getting arrested is much lower than in the general public. The average annual arrest rate of NFL players is roughly 2 percent of about 3,000 players who go through the league each year, including tryouts and minicamps. That's about half the arrest rate of the general U.S. population, the league says. The NFL notes the disparity becomes even more dramatic when the group is narrowed to American men ages 20-34.

But Jeff Benedict, author of several books on athletes and crimes, including "Pros and Cons, The Criminals Who Play In The NFL," believes the FBI statistics are a bad gauge.

"The danger of doing comparisons with the general public is, if you look at these people and their backgrounds, how many of those guys who have been arrested in the FBI numbers have been to college, make a lot of money like NFL players do, and live in safe, good neighborhoods?" Benedict says. "The issue is why any of these guys are doing this when they have all these good things going on in their lives."

The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has tracked NFL arrests "more serious than speeding tickets" dating back to 2000, has listed 36 this year, including Hernandez and Walcott and three players who were charged twice.

By comparison, the NBA says six players of its players have been arrested since last July 1, and Major League Baseball says it's aware of three cases this year worse than a speeding ticket: two DUIs and a misdemeanor drug charge.

While granting that NFL rosters are far bigger than those in the NBA or MLB, Benedict says, "You can't take these tiny snap shots and say the NFL is low."

Of course, even a few cases such as Hernandez's or that of Jovan Belcher the Kansas City player who shot his girlfriend to death last December, then committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager can create a widespread negative image.

And anyone who has suited up for an NFL team will face extra public scrutiny for even minor transgressions.

That, in turn, puts more pressure on the league's vetting process.

Dungy stresses that the amount of homework teams do is critical because they don't get all that much one-on-one time with prospective players. Some clubs do psychological analyses, even hiring outside agencies to handle them. Though others like the approach, Dungy is not a fan of it and always believed in his gut feeling about a player.

"You have to find out if they have grown from the issues, or there seems to be a pattern, or will these issues always be there," he says.

Bill Polian, who built the Bills, Panthers and Colts into Super Bowl teams as one of the NFL's most successful general managers and team presidents, strongly maintains that the league's vetting process is solid. It delves into players' histories from high school and college before they enter the league. Those investigations have become more sophisticated through the years; background checks include not only public records such as court documents and arrest data, but talking to teammates and coaches, high school principals and other people who have been a part of a player's life and development.

"It uncovers a fair amount of information," Polian says. "It is not designed to uncover information that is usable in court, but it is a process by which the clubs try to ascertain a clear picture of the individual that they are thinking about taking."

But there's no way of knowing how playing football for a living will change a young man.

"First of all, it is important to remember that no team is immune from having a player run afoul of the law, whether it's a speeding ticket up to what we have seen in the Hernandez and Belcher cases, which are as serious as is possible to be," Polian says.

"There's no magic wand a team can wave and change that player who has had serious problems. It's no different than any other workplace in America, just more publicized."

Benedict agrees that teams perform due diligence on draft prospects and they know what they are getting or avoiding in their draft rooms when it comes to skills or 40-meter dash times or health issues.

"The hardest thing they deal with on draft day is the character question," he says. "That is what keeps them up at night."

Former Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist says the vetting process wasn't particularly thorough for many of his years in the NFL he left after the 2007 season but he's certain it is more efficient now.

"I think Michael Vick was the turning point on the timeline," Sundquist says. "He was right in their backyard and they didn't know it was going on, an example of a team that had not had a handle on what players were doing."

Sundquist believes teams could get a better handle on developing problems by hiring security firms that are available around the clock to keep watch on players already in the league, even though the NFL's personal conduct policy is very direct in saying it expects "lawful, ethical and responsible" behavior.

"It's better to have a system in place that can monitor or check that guy, a security firm that is part of these guys' lives, not just vetting them," he says. "They are tied to the hip with these guys. I think that investment is well worth it."

Ultimately, if the public grows tired of player misconduct, regardless of the low percentages, it could become a huge problem for the NFL. And it could change how the teams approach player procurement.

"As these issues become a much more public situation in a business that relies upon the public for its goodwill," Polian says, "you are more and more concerned about taking chances on individuals no matter what the talent if they have problems in their background."

___

AP Sports Writers Dennis Waszak Jr., Brian Mahoney and Ronald Blum contributed to this story.

Forecasters said temperatures in sunbaked Las Vegas shot up to 115 degrees on Saturday afternoon, two degrees short of the city's all-time record.

Phoenix hit 119 degrees by mid-afternoon, breaking the record for June 29 that was set in 1994. And large swaths of California sweltered under extreme heat warnings, which are expected to last into Tuesday night and maybe even longer.

The forecast for Death Valley called for 128 degrees Saturday, but it was 3 degrees shy of that, according to unofficial reports from the National Weather Service. Death Valley's record high of 134 degrees, set a century ago, stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

A couple hours south in Baker, the temperature peaked at an unofficial 117 degrees in the road tripper's oasis in the Mojave Desert on Interstate 15. The strip of gas stations and restaurants between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is known by travelers for the giant thermometer that often notes temperatures in the triple digits.

At the Mad Greek restaurant there, a waitress called out orders for "Chocolate shake! Strawberry shake!" while the temperature hovered at 112 degrees during the lunch rush.

In Southern California, Riverside saw 105 degrees, and Palm Springs reached 122 degrees. At Lancaster Fox Field in Los Angeles County, temperatures reached 111, a record.

To make matters worse, National Weather Service meteorologists John Dumas said cooling ocean breezes haven't been traveling far enough inland overnight to fan Southern California's overheated valleys and deserts.

Burbank set a record overnight low with temperatures dipping to 74 degrees overnight, much warmer than the previous record of 68 degrees for Saturday's early hours.

In Northern California, temperatures Saturday reached the upper 90s in San Jose. Farther north, triple-digit temps were reached in downtown Sacramento on Saturday, according to the weather service.

Authorities say a man died and another was hospitalized in serious condition Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas fire and rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski says paramedics responded to a home with no air conditioning and found an elderly man dead. He says while the man had medical issues, paramedics thought his condition was aggravated by the heat.

Paramedics say another elderly man was on a long trip in his car when the air conditioning went out. Paramedics say he taken to the hospital in serious condition with heat stroke after he stopped in Las Vegas.

Cooling stations were set up to shelter the homeless and elderly people who can't afford to run their air conditioners. In Phoenix, Joe Arpaio, the famously hard-nosed sheriff who runs a tent jail, planned to distribute ice cream and cold towels to inmates this weekend.

Officials said personnel were added to the Border Patrol's search-and-rescue unit because of the danger to people trying to slip across the Mexican border. At least seven people have been found dead in the last week in Arizona after falling victim to the brutal desert heat.

Temperatures are also expected to soar across Utah and into Wyoming and Idaho, with triple-digit heat forecast for the Boise area. Cities in Washington state that are better known for cool, rainy weather should break the 90s next week.

The heat was so punishing that rangers took up positions at trailheads at Lake Mead in Nevada to persuade people not to hike. Zookeepers in Phoenix hosed down the elephants and fed tigers frozen fish snacks. Dogs were at risk of burning their paws on scorched pavement, and airlines kept close watch on the heat for fear that it could cause flights to be delayed.

___

Skoloff reported from Phoenix. Also contributing were Robert Jablon and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles, Julie Jacobson and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Martin Griffith in Reno, Nev., Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, Cristina Silva and Bob Christie in Phoenix, and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M.

[More from BGR: ]

With the 2014 launch of our cloud service in the US allowing users to play PS3 games on the PS4, some people may switch consoles from the PS3 to the PS4, Kawano said. But thatll be a gradual process, and to say were releasing a new console, so trade in your old ones for it would be a makers ego talking, plain and simple.

[More from BGR: ]

Yoshidaspoke about the companys decision to require a mandatory PlayStation Plus subscription fee for online play. The executive noted that the service, which had previously been optional, requires a large investment of resources.

Considering the cost, to try to keep such a service free and consequently lower the quality would be absurd, he said. We decided that if thats the case, then it would be better to receive proper payment and continue to offer a good service.

Yoshida was quick to point out, however, that a PlayStation Plus membership would not be required for online play or video services that werent realtime. He also revealed that if the main account on a system had a PlayStation Plus membership, all other accounts on thewould receive the same benefits, meaning families wont be required to pay for multiple memberships.

This article was

She didn't live or work in Haiti or pretend to help. Fournier was here for fun, traveling to Haiti for the first time with her Port-au-Prince-born husband of almost two years. The couple visited a few of his relatives but otherwise has spent their 10-day vacation seeing the historic town of Jacmel in the south, wading in a nearby waterfall and relaxing on the beach.

"You can tell that the tourism isn't very developed yet, and that's the big charm of it," Fournier, 26, of Montreal, Canada, as she sipped juice from a cut-open coconut. "Everything is an adventure here."

Haitian President Michel Martelly and his administration are to trying to woo Fournier and others like her as they aim high to revive the country's long stagnant tourism industry with investments totaling more than $160 million.

While many in Haiti welcome anything that can create jobs, some critics are questioning the government's priority of trying to attract high-end tourists at a time when the country faces so many other problems, such as high unemployment, a deadly cholera outbreak and lack of housing for people displaced by the earthquake more than three years ago.

"It's good that the government is thinking about tourism but I think it's thinking about it in a very narrow way," said Robert Maguire, a longtime Haiti scholar at George Washington University. "It's an exclusive, high-end model that benefits a small group of the elite."

Haiti's tourism ministry had about $2 million in its budget under the previous administration, and received another $1 million from a Venezuelan oil fund in the aftermath of a destructive storm season, according to the former tourism minister. Today, the department has a budget that's $4.7 million, plus $27 million from Venezuela's PetroCaribe fund.

"Haiti is ready for tourism. Haiti is a tourism destination," said Tourism Minister Stephanie Villedrouin, a rare constant in the shakeup-prone Martelly administration. "If we want to be a sovereign country, if we don't want to depend on other countries, we need to figure out ourselves how to move forward and how to get revenue, and tourism must be number one on the list."

The government's projects include $13.2 million to build an airport and infrastructure on the southern island of Ile-a-Vache and another $8 million to develop the coastal town of Jacmel. Officials say these efforts will create more than 1,600 direct jobs and 6,500 indirect jobs. Tourism generated $200 million last year, Villedrouin said. This in a country whose annual budget is $1 billion.

Lest tourists fear Haiti unravels with unrest, the government is also building a force of 53 "tourism police officers" who will learn Spanish and English, first aid skills, customer service and work in the outposts where officials want to bring tourists. Funding comes from the Justice Ministry.

Other plans include making use of a little-known "investment code" that gives 15-year tax breaks to the owners of new hotels, many of whom are from the country's powerful and wealthy families. This law also allows hotel owners to ship supplies through customs without paying taxes.

Haiti used to be the stomping grounds for the rich and famous in the 1970s and early 1980s as they came in search of late-night Voodoo ceremonies, rum-fueled revelry and Cold War-era conspiracy theories. Guests included Mick Jagger, Truman Capote and Jackie Onassis.

But an AIDS scare in the early 1980s sent tourists to less exciting destinations. And the ouster of former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" in 1986 spawned years of political upheaval as governments took turns toppling one another. The lone visitors became diplomats, peacekeepers, aid workers, missionaries and emigrants, all symbols of the country's problems.

They largely remain so today. The bona fide tourists who mostly visit are those who hop off the cruise ships docked in Labadie, a fenced-in beach attraction on the country's north coast; Villedrouin said 600,000 of these people visit each year.

Villedrouin couldn't say how many other real tourists came last year. But so far only 120 have showed up since January as part of holiday package with Air Transat, a leading charter carrier in Canada. Air Transat flies weekly between Montreal and Port-au-Prince, and reserves 30 seats a month for its holiday packages in Haiti, which cost between $1,399 and $1,600.

These tourists, however, are the exception, the country a tough sell not just because of its history of political unrest, dysfunction and disease or because it was designated by the U.S. State Department in 2012 as a "major drug trafficking country." It's also difficult to sell because its Caribbean neighbors are cheaper; hotels are relatively expensive and fees such as generator fuel and potable water are often included in room rates.

"You pay more but get more," Villedrouin said, citing Haiti's "added value" of culture.

The government is holding out that the tourism industry will create jobs as a construction boom for high-end hotels plays out in the capital and countryside. In fact, the government is making use of a little-known "investment code" that was revised in 2002. The law enables tourism investors to receive a 15-year tax break and import supplies without paying taxes. After the grace period ends, 15 percent of the company's income will be taxable at the end of the first year.

"Think about something: They create jobs. They create a lot of jobs," Villedrouin said, noting that each hotel room built creates two jobs and four indirect jobs. She adds that hotels charge a 10 percent tax on all purchases. Haiti's minimum wage has held at 200 Haitian gourdes a day, or about $4.54, since 2009. "These investments will definitely create jobs."

One bright Sunday morning, Fournier and her husband, Sadrack Duclair, relaxed in beach chairs under the straw-hut canopy. He photographed her as she laughed and played the role of Caribbean tourist, sipping juice from a cut-open coconut. Earlier, they had rented a car and found a driver to shuttle them among the tourist attractions.

"I knew coming here that it was going to be a big adventure," said Duclair, who left Haiti as a child and last visited in 1999. "I think it began at the airport, the first day. After that I was like: Haiti."

The Harvard University researchers stressed it was too early to say the men have been cured, but said it was an encouraging sign that the virus hasn't rebounded in their blood months after drug treatment ended.

The first person reported to be cured of HIV, American Timothy Ray Brown, underwent a stem cell transplant in 2007 to treat his leukemia. He was reported by his German doctors to have been cured of HIV two years later.

Brown's doctors used a donor who had a rare genetic mutation that provides resistance against HIV. So far, no one has observed similar results using ordinary donor cells such as those given to the two patients by the Harvard University researchers.

The researchers, Timothy Henrich and Daniel Kuritzkes of the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, announced last year that blood samples taken from the men who both had blood cancers showed no traces of the HIV virus eight months after they received bone marrow transplants to replace cancerous blood cells with healthy donor cells. The men were still on anti-HIV drugs at the time.

The men have both since stopped anti-retroviral therapy one 15 weeks ago and the other seven weeks ago and show no signs of the virus, Henrich told an international AIDS conference in Malaysia on Wednesday.

"They are doing very well," Henrich said. "While these results are exciting, they do not yet indicate that the men have been cured. Only time will tell."

The HIV virus may be hiding in other organs such as the liver, spleen or brain and could return months later, he warned.

Further testing of the men's cells, plasma and tissue for at least a year will help give a clearer picture on the full impact of the transplant on HIV persistence, he said.

Kuritzkes said the patients will be put back on the drugs if there is a viral rebound.

A rebound will show that other sites are important reservoirs of infectious virus and new approaches to measuring these reservoirs will be needed in developing a cure, Henrich said.

"These findings clearly provide important new information that might well alter the current thinking about HIV and gene therapy," Kevin Robert Frost, chief executive of The Foundation of AIDS Research, said in a statement. "While stem cell transplantation is not a viable option for people with HIV on a broad scale because of its costs and complexity, these new cases could lead us to new approaches to treating, and ultimately even eradicating, HIV."

The economy gained a robust 195,000 jobs in June and many more in April and May than previously thought. The unemployment rate remained 7.6 percent in June because more people started looking for jobs a healthy sign and some didn't find them. The government doesn't count people as unemployed unless they're looking for work.

The Labor Department's report Friday pointed to a U.S. job market that's showing surprising resilience in the face of tax increases, federal spending cuts and economic weakness overseas. Employers have added an average 202,000 jobs for the past six months, up from 180,000 in the previous six.

The job growth is being fueled in part by consumer spending and the housing recovery. Consumer confidence has reached a 5 year high and is helping drive up sales of homes and cars. Hiring was especially strong in June among retailers, hotels, restaurants, construction companies and financial services firms.

"The numbers that we're seeing are more sustainable than we thought," said Paul Edelstein, U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm. "We're seeing better job numbers, the stock market is increasing and home prices are rising."

Average pay also rose sharply last month. It's exceeded inflation this year after barely keeping pace since the Great Recession ended four years ago. Average hourly pay rose 10 cents in June to $24.01. Over the past 12 months, it's risen 2.2 percent. Over the same period, consumer prices have increased 1.4 percent.

Stocks surged Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 147 points, nearly 1 percent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note soared to 2.73 percent, its highest point since August 2011, from 2.51 percent late Wednesday. That's a sign that investors think the economy is improving and that the Fed will slow its bond buying this year. If it did, long-term rates would likely rise.

Among the employers benefiting from Americans' continued willingness to spend is Carlisle Wide Plank Floors, based in Stoddard, N.H. Carlisle makes hardwood flooring used in stores, restaurants and hotels. CEO Michael Stanek said orders jumped 30 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.

The company is hiring factory, sales and administrative employees to meet the higher demand. Carlisle expects to add about 15 employees this year to its 85-person workforce.

Friday's report showed that the U.S. economy added 70,000 more jobs in April and May than the government had previously estimated 50,000 in April and 20,000 in May.

The Fed has been buying $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds each month since late last year. The purchases pushed long-term interest rates to historic lows, fueled a stock rally and encouraged consumers and businesses to borrow and spend. The low rates have helped support an economy that's had to absorb government spending cuts and a Social Security tax increase that's shrunk paychecks this year.

John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said he thinks the Fed will announce at its September policy meeting that it will start reducing its bond purchases, perhaps to $75 billion a month.

Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the Fed's bond buying could end around the time unemployment reaches 7 percent. The Fed foresees that happening around mid-2014. But Silvia said he didn't think unemployment would reach 7 percent by then. He thinks the Fed could continue its bond buying into 2015.

Friday's report contained at least one element of concern: Many of the job gains were in generally lower-paying industries, a trend that emerged earlier this year. The hotels, restaurants and entertainment industry added 75,000 jobs in June. This industry has added an average 55,000 jobs a month this year, nearly double its average in 2012. Retailers added 37,000. Temporary jobs rose 10,000.

The health care industry added 20,000 jobs, construction 13,000. But manufacturing, which includes many higher-paying positions, shed 6,000. The manufacturing sector has weakened this year, in part because struggling economies in Europe and elsewhere have reduced demand for U.S. goods.

Many of the new jobs are only part time. The number of Americans who said they were working part time but would prefer full-time work jumped 322,000 to 8.2 million the most in eight months.

That could be a sign that some employers are hiring more part-time workers to avoid the health care reform law's requirement that companies provide health coverage to full-time staff. That mandate was to take effect Jan. 1. But this week, the Obama administration postponed it until 2015.

The rise in part-time jobs helped boost one measure of weakness in the job market the so-called underemployment rate. This includes not only the unemployed but also people with part-time jobs who want full-time work and people who have stopped looking for work.

In June, the underemployment rate rose from 13.8 percent to 14.3 percent. That's still down from 14.8 percent a year ago. The rate peaked at 17.1 percent in April 2010.

Jobs have been added at a faster pace this year than the economy's sluggish growth would suggest. The economy expanded at only a 1.8 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year. Most analysts think it grew even more slowly in the April-June quarter.

But later this month, the government will revise its estimate of the economy's growth for the first quarter, and many analysts think it will be revised up. They also think the economy will accelerate in the second half of the year.

Last month's job growth came solely from the private sector, particularly services firms. Government jobs fell 7,000, mostly at the federal level. The federal government has shed 65,000 jobs in the past 12 months. Some of that decline is due to the spending cuts that kicked in March 1.

Declining government employment has been a drag on the job market since the recession officially ended in June 2009. In a typical recovery, governments add at least 20,000 jobs a month.

Solid hiring in the private sector is lifting wages, even in some lower-paying industries. Average hourly pay for retail employees, for example, rose 6 cents in June to $16.64, and is up nearly 2 percent in the past year.

The overall increase in pay is "the standout feature of this report," said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody's Analytics. Low inflation rate is also helping consumers, he noted.

"The tide is continuing to turn for the consumer," Sweet said. "The consumer is going to continue to be able to shoulder this recovery."

June's 7.6 percent unemployment rate is derived from a survey of households, which found that 177,000 more people started looking for jobs last month. Most found them. The rise in job seekers suggests that Americans think their prospects have brightened. Because some job seekers didn't find work right away, the number of unemployed was largely unchanged at 11.8 million.

The job gain for the month is calculated from a separate survey of employers.

The percentage of Americans either working or actively looking for work rose for a second straight month to 63.5 percent. This is called the "labor force participation rate." The participation rate has been generally declining since peaking at 67.3 percent in 2000. That's partly the result of baby boomers retiring and leaving the workforce.

___

AP Business Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

___

Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

Better yet, the tourists are told that the money they spend to get their new exotic Facebook profile pic goes towards the care of these orphaned cats. What isn't advertised is that these charismatic felines have often actually been taken from their mothers at a very young age, have most likely had their teeth and claws removed to be less of a threat, and will probably be put down or sold to a circus or low-end zoo when they have outgrown their prime adorableness. 

"Millions of animals around the world are used in tourism activities, and tourists often don't realize that by simply having a photograph taken, they are contributing to suffering and abuse," said Philip Mansbridge, CEO of , one of the organizations spearheading a new awareness campaign.

"Through ourwebsite, we're aiming to get tourists to check first before they do something involving animals on holiday which they, or the animals, may regret."

The Born Free Foundation, which is partnering with Care for the Wild on this issue, has received many hundreds of reports about wild animal photo props in Mexican holiday resorts from international tourists via their Travellers' Animal Alert initiative. 

"The sad fact is that currently this exploitation appears to be legal, as long as the people involved have the official permits to operate," said Sarah Jefferson of the Born Free Foundation. "From the huge public feeling on this issue and the clear welfare concerns, we feel that the Mexican authorities need to take action to amend the law and make this activity illegal."

While these animal welfare groups are currently focused on petitioning the Mexican government to put a halt to this practice, Mexico certainly isn't the sole offender. Thailand, Spain, Bulgaria, Morocco, Russia, Romania, India and Sri Lanka are all destinations where turning wild animals into lucrative photo props is commonplace. 

Even if you have no moral qualms about financially supporting animal exploitation, Born Free and Care for the Wild also point out that there is an impressive slew of nasty diseases that can spread from animals to people through close contact, not to mention the likelihood that your imprecisely drugged photo buddy might suddenly remember that it is a wild animal midway through the shoot and feel the need to express its displeasure.

What do you think should happen to companies that use exotic animals as photo props? Let us know in the Comments.

Related stories on TakePart:

Howard, who joined the Los Angeles Lakers from the Orlando Magic in a blockbuster 12-player trade in August 2012, had been favouring a move to Houston, despite facing a substantial paycut by opting to leave the Lakers, reports said.

The 27-year-old, who had also been courted by the Dallas Mavericks, the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors, was eligible to sign for five years and $118 million with Los Angeles or four years and $88 million with any other team.

ESPN said on Friday that Howard had informed the Mavericks, the Hawks, the Warriors and the Lakers that he would not be signing with any of them, though the Lakers said they had not yet been given news about Howard's decision.

"He hasn't finalised his decision but we hope and expect him to make a decision today or tomorrow," Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier in the day, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted: "While we are excited & cautiously optimistic @DwightHoward might choose Houston, we have not yet heard about his decision."

Free agent Howard, a three-time NBA defensive player of the year who is popularly known as 'Superman' because of his athletic prowess, consulted all five teams earlier this week.

The Lakers met up with Howard on Tuesday and their pitch focused on the future -- on how they would be able to embellish Howard's brand off the court while returning on-court greatness to a franchise that has piled up 16 NBA championship titles.

Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, played a key role in trying to woo Howard, telling him: "You need to learn how it's done first, and I can teach you here.

"I know how to do it and I've learned from the best - players who have won multiple times over and over."

However, Bryant and Howard did not always see eye-to-eye last season under the guidance of coach Mike D'Antoni before the Lakers were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs.

The prospect of being the kingpin on an ambitious Rockets team which also includes James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and promising center Omer Asik was always likely to be an alluring one for Howard.

His arrival in Houston would instantly make the Rockets genuine contenders for the Western Conference championship. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Ian Ransom)

Another advisory firm, Egan Jones, has backed all the nominees, while a third one, Glass Lewis, called Vivus's plan to launch diet drug Qsymia without a commercial partner "ill-advised", First Manhattan said in a statement.

Qsymia's lackluster sales have been the main point of criticism by First Manhattan, which owns about 9.9 percent of the Vivus. The activist investor and has also called for a new chief executive.

Shareholders are slated to vote on First Manhattan's propositions at Vivus's annual general meeting on July 15.

ISS, Egan Jones and Glass Lewis were not immediately available for comment outside of regular business hours.

In its defense, Vivus has maintained that it has been moving ahead with its plans of gaining wider insurance coverage for Qsymia and that its chief executive and board members have been laying the groundwork for the drug's sales growth.

A turnover of its board, as per First Manhattan's plans, would only delay the success of Qsymia, Vivus said on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)