From the attention-grabbing bangs, to the high-end Jason Wu dresses, to the colorful J. Crew ensembles, first lady Michelle Obama is considered by many to be a style icon in her own right. But one famous fashion designer - Vivienne Westwood - is unimpressed, describing Obama's fashion sense as "dreadful."

"Don't talk about her.It's dreadful what she wears," Westwoodearlier this week.

"I don't want to talk about it.Really, I can't.She's a very nice-looking lady, but it's a nonstarter regarding clothes that suit her," Westwood added.

Westwood, a 71-year-old English fashionista who designed for the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, heaped praise on another first lady for her style.

"Jackie Kennedy was a different matter altogether," Westwood said. "Itjust has to suit her and be something that makes a human being more glamorous.That's what fashion is there for.It's there to help, not just to make you look more conservative."

The White House has not responded to a request for comment.

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.

The country has a long and storied boxing tradition and is usually a force at international amateur tournaments. This move represents a big step for the island's Communist authorities, who long ago decided pro sports were not in keeping with Marxist social ideals.

The new format, the World Series of Boxing, consists of 12 squads from across the globe that square off in a series of five fights using a point system similar to the pros.

The World Series of Boxing is organized by the international boxing association known as AIBA. The competition begins in November.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Cuba to World Series of Boxing," AIBA President C.K. Wu said in a statement. "With a total of 116 World medals and 67 Olympic ones, Cuban boxers have always lived at the pinnacle of our sport. ... We are convinced that this new franchise will bring WSB to an even higher level."

In addition to the salaries, boxers in the series can make $500 to $2,000 bonuses, although it's not immediately clear how, or how much, the Cubans will be paid.

They still stand to receive a big raise from their current salaries, which are close to the $20 a month that most Cuban workers earn. The best boxers, those who win medals at major tournaments, are granted lifetime stipends of up to $300 a month.

Wu visited the island in January for talks with local sports officials about adding Cuba to the series. The nation's fighters have expressed great excitement about the prospect. Boxers in the World Series will compete for 30 automatic bids to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"It is our duty to help our athletes develop their careers as far as possible," Cuban Boxing Federation President Alberto Puig de la Barca was quoted as saying by AIBA. "Our best boxers will compete in WSB over seven months against the world's cream of the crop. This will offer them the chance to get a taste of the styles of other world-class athletes and thus be better prepared to face them in the Olympic Games, Pan American, Central American and world championships."

"We are pleased to join," he added.

Fidel Castro banned professional sports in 1961, two years after the Cuban Revolution.

"Sport is not just another instrument of the market ... nor of profit for promoters, agents and all manner of parasites that feed off the athlete's hard work," Castro said in 2005.

He left office in 2006 because of a near-fatal intestinal ailment, and brother Raul has been in charge since. The younger Castro has since instituted a number of social and economic reforms that have brought significant change to the country's socialist model.

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Follow Anne-Marie Garcia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AnneMarie279

"If there is no basis to the , then how do you explain the suns alignment with the center of our galaxy that is predicted to occur on Dec. 21?"

Putting as earnest a look on my face as possible, I replied, "Youre absolutely correct the sun will indeed be aligned with the center of our galaxy on Dec. 21." I then quickly added, "But of course that happens every year on Dec. 21." []

The look on my inquisitors face was priceless. "Really? But how can that be?"

The sun's annual path

As the Earth moves around the sun, we see the sun change its position against the background stars a full 360-degree circle around the sky during the course of a year. That apparent path is known to astronomers asout toward the sky.

As it turns out, the moon and the seven other planets that comprise thealso move in orbits whose planes dont vary too greatly from that of Earths orbit. As a result, the moon and the other planets also appear to stay relatively close to the ecliptic.

The sun never deviates from the ecliptic and so as Earth travels around it, from our perspective, it will always take the exact same path against the same background stars every year.

Since when were looking towardwere also looking toward the center of the Milky Way, when the sun reaches that same point on the ecliptic in Sagittarius on Dec. 21 every year, the sun and the galaxys center are indeed aligned.

The ecliptic is a very important feature because it marks "the pathway," so to speak, for the sun, moon and planets as they move across the sky. Most sky charts plot the position of the ecliptic for this reason, for it provides sky watchers with a clue as to where one or more of these objects will appear.

Because theyre not located exactly in the same orbital plane as Earth, the moon and planets usually are not found exactly on the ecliptic line, but rather within several degrees of it. Thus, instead of a line, we find the moon and planets wandering along the sky within a band that encompasses the entire sky, which we call the zodiac.

The ecliptic runs exactly along the middle of that zodiacal band.

The 'classic 12'

The word "zodiac" is derived from the Greek, meaning "animal circle." A sort of "celestial zoo."

And with the sole exception of one of the "classic 12"that belong to the zodiac, all of the zodiac members refer to living things. Many of these constellations are named for animals, such as Leo, the Lion, Taurus, the Bull and Cancer, the Crab, just to name a few.

The sole inanimate member is Libra, the Scales.

All of these names can be readily identified on sky charts and are familiar to millions of horoscope users (who ironically would be hard pressed to find them in the actual sky.) []

If we could see the stars in the daytime, we would see the sun slowly wander from one constellation of the zodiac to the next, making one complete circle around the sky in one year.

Ancient astrologers were able to figure out where the sun was on the zodiac by noting the last zodiacal constellation to rise ahead of the sun, or the first to set after it. Obviously, the sun had to be somewhere in between.

Each month a specific constellation was conferred the title, "house of the sun," and in this manner each month-long period of the year was given its "sign of the zodiac."

Some discrepancies

A couple of years ago, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society caused quite a stir when he pointed out that the zodiacal sign that had been assigned for a given month in the newspaper horoscope is not where the sun actually is for that month.

He pointed out that, in reality, todays astrologers continue to adhere toby at least a millennium. For instance, according to astrology, youre a Leo if you were born between July 23 and Aug. 22 because thats the time of year where the sun supposedly is in the zodiac.

That might have been true 1,000 years ago, but no longer. In fact, on July 23, the sun is not in Leo, but in Cancer. This discrepancy is due to the "wobble" of the Earths axis (known as precession).

As a consequence, there then came the revelation (even though it has been known by astronomers for a long time) that astrologers continue to adhere to star positions that for all intents and purposes are out of date by 10 centuries or more.

Outcasts of the zodiac

One thing that I have never been able to understand is why astrologers fail to recognize Ophiuchus, the serpent holder. He certainly should be considered as a card-carrying member of the zodiacal fraternity since the sun spends more time traversing through Ophiuchus than .

It officially resides in Scorpius for less than a week: from Nov. 23 to 29. It then moves into Ophiuchus on Nov. 30 and remains within its boundaries for more than two weeks until Dec. 17. And yet, the serpent holder is not considered a member of the Zodiac.

In addition, because theand planets are often positioned either just to the north or south of the ecliptic, they sometimes appear within the boundaries of several other non-zodiacal star patterns.

The revered Belgian astronomical calculator Jean Meeus has pointed out that there are actually 22 zodiacal constellations in which the moon and some of the planets from Mercury to Neptune can occasionally enter.

In addition to the 12 classical zodiacal signs and , we can also add: Auriga, the charioteer; Cetus, the whale; Corvus, the crow; Crater, the cup; Hydra, the water snake; Orion, the hunter; Pegasus, the flying horse; Scutum, the shield; and Sextans, the sextant.

And in case youre interested, in the upcoming month, the moon will be in Orion on May 13, Sextans on May 19 and Ophiuchus on May 26.

I guess you can say that so far as the celestial zoo is concerned, these three constellations are on the outside of the cage looking in.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for the New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us on , and . Original article on .

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One-time market leadercontinued to see the past slip away, as first-quarter mobile phone shipments plummeted to 61.9 million units from 82.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Nokias market share also dipped, of course, from 21.9% in Q1 2012 to 16.6% in Q1 2013.

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growth in the March quarter slowed substantially despite climbing to 37.4 million iPhones from to 35.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The global mobile phone market outgrew Apple by a healthy rate though, and its market share climbed less than a point to 10% in Q1.

Ongoing macroeconomic challenges in Asia, Europe and North America, relatively tighter operator upgrade policies for 3G phones, and slowing volumes of 2G feature phones were among the key reasons why global mobile phone shipments dipped minus 1 percent annually to reach 372.7 million units in Q1 2013, said Strategy Analytics senior analystNeil Shah. Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy portfolio, Samsung was the star performer, shipping 106.6 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing a record 29 percent marketshare to solidify its first-place lead.

Nokias global mobile phone shipments fell 25 percent from 82.7 million units in Q1 2012 to 61.9 million in Q1 2013, Strategy Analytics senior director Neil Mawston added.Weak Symbian smartphone volumes and lackluster feature phone demand caused Nokias shrinkage. Nonetheless, Nokia remains the worlds second largest mobile phone vendor by volume, and if it can expand aggressively its fast-growing Lumia and Asha ranges this year, then there is still potential for Nokias position to stabilize or recover.

Behind Apple, Strategy Analytics said LG shipped an estimated 16.2 million mobile phones in the first quarter to take 4.3% of the market, and ZTE rounded out the top-5 with 13 million phones shipped, good for 3.5% of the global market.

Rival research firm IDC painted a similar picture of the top-5 mobile vendors last quarter, but the numbers vary slightly. According to its estimates, Samsung shipped 115 million phones for 27.5% of the global market, Nokia shipped 61.9 million for a 14.8% share, and Apples 37.4 million iPhones accounted for just 8.9% of the global cell phone market. LG shipped an estimated 15.4 million phones for 3.7% of the market according to IDC, and ZTEs 13.5 million units shipped were good for a 3.2% share.

This article was

Ryder Cup Europe said in a statement that Scotland, England, the United States, Wales and Ireland made up the top five countries.

Successful applicants for the Sept 26-28 event were being told on Tuesday and European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley welcomed their enthusiasm.

"No golf tournament could exist without volunteers and that is especially true in terms of a competition of the size and magnitude of the Ryder Cup, so I thank them all for their participation," the Irishman said.

The volunteer roles include acting as crowd safety marshals and buggy shuttle drivers as well as selling merchandise and programs. Each will get a guaranteed half day of viewing time on course during each day of competition.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John O'Brien)

The powerhouse programme also had its funding cut by almost six percent by the Australian Sports Commission earlier this week after a poor performance at the London Games where the team failed to win an individual gold and ended with just 10 medals.

Five members of the men's 4x100 freestyle relay squad also admitted to taking an Australian Olympic Committee banned sedative as part of a bonding session before the London Games. All were fined and censured by Swimming Australia.

Bohl, who has coached Beijing Olympic champion Stephanie Rice, will take charge of the women's team, while Taylor, a former coach of Beijing breaststroke champion Leisel Jones, will coach the men's squad.

The pair will work with high performance director Michael Scott, Swimming Australia (SA) said in a statement, though their appointments were only until the world championships in Barcelona from July 28-Aug. 4.

"Ultimately we will be looking at appointing a head coach post the World Championships in August, and work with Michael once he starts to plan that process," SA president Barclay Nettlefold said in a statement.

"But this is the right combination for 2013 and we're fortunate to have such experience to draw on.

"Both men will complement Michael Scott's skills in the area of high performance and I've said all along that our job is to enable athletes and coaches to perform at their best, and that's what this coaching unit is designed to do."

The team's previous head coach Leigh Nugent resigned in March after allegations he failed to handle indiscipline in the ranks, though SA said they would welcome him back after "a break" to take up a mentoring role under Scott.

The Australian national championships, a selection meeting for the world titles, began in Adelaide earlier on Friday and runs until May 3.

"We'll have just 86 days to prepare for Barcelona, following the team selection next week, and our focus as a team and then as a men's group, has to be about pulling together the best preparation possible," Taylor said.

"I'm looking forward to working with the athletes and coaches over the next three months. It is a challenge for all of us to prepare as best we can and one that we are all capable of meeting." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Patrick Johnston)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Every studio tends to save its most lavish and (hopefully) profitable movies for the summer, but Universal chairman Adam Fogelson advocated a different approach on Wednesday, pushing for studios to release any movie at any time.

Citing his own studio's success with releasing the "Fast & Furious" films in April and the horror movie "White Noise" in January, Fogelson said there was no reason "other than historical behavior that almost any film can open on any weekend."

"White Noise," a low-budget horror film, went on to make $91 million at the box office and helped spark more studios to release similar movies early in the year. The "Fast" franchise has had great success in April, setting new records for two different weekends.

One theater owner joining Fogelson in Las Vegas for CinemaCon disagreed with the notion of 'any movie, as Carmike Cinemas' David Passman argued too many R-rated movies opened early this year. Many blamed the glut of R-rated films for a soft first quarter at the box office, with grosses down double digits from last year.

"As exhibitors, we're prone to blame the content providers," he said, before cautioning, "please don't stop making R."

Fogelson argued that the problem was the quality of the movies, not their rating.

"There were a lot of strange R-rated movies," Fogelson said, later adding, "Blaming R is overly simplistic. If or 'Ted' opened in January, they would have been a hit. 'Identity Thief' was a hit. It's about the movies."

The former marketing executive was speaking on a panel dubbed "Think Tank 2.0," and as the lone representative of a Hollywood studios, he often found himself speaking on behalf of them all.

Yet in this case, Fogelson set about differentiating Universal from his rivals. Though some studios have begun to warm to this idea, opening surefire hits like "The Hunger Games" in March, many still reserve movies they are least confident in for months such as January and September.

Universal has explored alternatives in part strategically, but Fogelson also acknowledged it was out of necessity.

"We're a studio that hasn't had the luxury of relying on traditional, tentpole intellectual property," he said. "We make the movies no one was paying attention to."

One notable exception to that bit of self-deprecation is "50 Shades of Grey," the adaptation of the best-selling novel. Fellow panelist Michael DeLuca is producing that film for the studio, but that didn't stop the two partners from mixing it up a bit over the future of dramas in movie theaters.

DeLuca, who has produced films such as "Moneyball" and "The Social Network," bemoaned studios' lack of commitment to adult-focused dramas.

"If one drama doesn't work, there are no dramas that year," DeLuca said. "They are dropped off the development slate."

Fogelson, while praising DeLuca's great ability, called that characterization simplistic and reductive.

"While there is still room for certain types of drama in the theater, we can't ignore the reality that TV is doing a brilliant job of scratching that itch for consumers," Fogelseon said.

The end result?

"Everything has to be an event," DeLuca said. "Including adult movies."

Prosecutors filed a court document Friday that recommends the 45-year sentence for Floyd Corkins II. A security guard subdued Corkins in the lobby of the Family Research Council in August after he pointed a pistol at the man. Corkins fired three shots, and the guard was the only one injured. Corkins, who was carrying nearly 100 rounds of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, later told authorities that he had planned to kill as many people as possible and then to smear the sandwiches on their faces as a political statement.

Chick-fil-A was making headlines at the time because of its president's stated opposition to gay marriage. The Family Research Council also opposes gay marriage, and police officers who responded to the shooting scene reported Corkins said he didn't like the group or what it stands for.

The government said in making its recommendation that if not for the security guard's actions, Corkins "would have almost certainly succeeded in committing a massacre of epic portions."

"Although the defendant largely failed to bring about the violence he sought, he was still able to accomplish one of his objectives that is, to use acts of violence to terrorize and intimidate those within the District of Columbia and the United States who did not share his political beliefs and views," government attorneys wrote.

Corkins, 28, told authorities he initially wanted to make a bomb but did not have the patience. He bought a gun in Virginia the week before the shooting and received private firearms training the night before his attack.

When Corkins was arrested, he was carrying a list of four socially conservative organizations written on a piece of paper printed with the Bible verse, "With God all things are possible." He told authorities that if he had not been caught at the Family Research Council he planned to go to the next organization on his list and shoot there as well. Prosecutors did not release the list of organizations. They said approximately 50 people were working inside the Family Research Council when Corkins arrived.

Corkins pleaded guilty to three charges in February: interstate transportation of a firearm, assault with intent to kill while armed and committing an act of terrorism while armed. The first charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and the two other charges carry a maximum 30 years in prison.

Sentencing is set for April 29.

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Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

He struggled to operate what he called an "Apple telephone" and said he was more familiar with 8-tracks than modern technology.

Taylor was released Tuesday after doubts about his conviction surfaced and he agreed to a deal with prosecutors that set him free. He pleaded no contest to each of the nearly 30 counts of murder against him in an agreement that allowed the judge to sentence him to time served.

While he has consistently maintained his innocence, Taylor said he took the deal because he wanted out now instead of remaining in prison for years more to seek vindication at a new trial.

"I had no choice," he said at a news conference with his attorneys on Wednesday. "I wasn't going to give them another minute, another hour, another decade."

The 1970 blaze at the Pioneer Hotel was one of the deadliest fires in Arizona history as hundreds of people gathered at the exclusive spot in Tucson to celebrate Christmas. When the fire erupted, exits were blocked and fire truck ladders were too short to reach the upper floors. Many guests were trapped in their rooms. Some jumped to their deaths while others burned alive. One of the victims was waiting for his family to arrive for the Christmas holiday. The gifts burned in the room.

Taylor was 16 when he was arrested that night at the hotel, where he says he went to get free drinks and food from various parties. The now-58-year-old, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to life in prison.

At his news conference, Taylor addressed the questions of race that have long loomed over the case. The original fire investigator told The Associated Press this week that he profiled the suspect as "probably a negro," but insisted his statements had nothing to do with Taylor's arrest.

"They singled me out," Taylor said. "They targeted me. All they said was, 'The little colored boy, the little negro boy.'"

He broke down in tears before continuing.

"I'm not saying it was a racial injustice but certainly it wasn't fair what they did to me," Taylor said.

The case started getting more attention a decade ago amid reports by "60 Minutes" that raised questions about whether the fire was arson. The Arizona Justice Project, which works on behalf of inmates believed to be wrongly convicted, began reviewing the evidence.

The group claimed prosecutors committed misconduct at Taylor's original trial when they neglected to inform his defense that no accelerants were found at the scene. In addition, fire experts the group hired to review evidence could not determine what caused the blaze.

However, Cy Holmes, now 83 and the original fire investigator, stands by his findings that it was arson, noting experts taking on the case now don't have all the evidence and didn't spend days investigating the scene like he did.

Prosecutors still insist Taylor is guilty, but they acknowledged that gaining a conviction at a new trial would be dicey given that some evidence has been lost and witnesses have either moved or died.

Pima County authorities say Taylor was arrested with five boxes of matches and told numerous lies as he was questioned by investigators. They say he also admitted to starting arson fires in the past. In court papers, prosecutors wrote that hotel employees on the night of the blaze "found the defendant standing by himself simply looking at the fire."

"This is not exoneration," Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall said. "Louis Taylor was found guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt."

Taylor claims he was railroaded, and that authorities never allowed him access to an attorney on the night of his arrest.

"I never hurt anybody in my whole life," he said Wednesday, adding that he helped save guests. "I'm glad I went there because I saved a lot of people."

He explained how while in prison, some inmates encouraged him to escape.

"I said, 'I'm not going nowhere, I'm an innocent man,'" Taylor said. "Only the guilty run away. I held on, and look, I'm free now."

Arizona Department of Corrections records show Taylor was found guilty while in prison of nearly 70 infractions, including disorderly conduct, sexual assault and arson.

He acknowledged he was "no angel" behind bars.

"You grow up in prison, you get a lot of bad habits," he said.

Yet despite his claims of injustice, Taylor forgives everyone involved and is just looking to the future. The no contest pleas allowed Taylor to neither dispute the charges against him nor admit guilt, and he also gave up his right to seek a new trial.

He said he took an hour-long hike in a canyon near Tucson to "transcend back into society" upon his release. He went to In-N-Out Burger, then cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast on Wednesday morning.

"I'm going to try to do the best that I can. I can't look back," Taylor said. "I just thank God that I'm free."