The Cotlands organization campaigns for improvement in early education in South Africa, where a 2010 general household survey released by a government-backed statistics agency showed only 32 percent of children under 5 had access to early childhood development programs.

The biggest challenge for the organization is convincing families that it wants to introduce children to early learning skills, and is not a haven for neglected or abused kids, said Lois Moodley, Cotlands' marketing manager. It runs a child care unit that houses abandoned children up for adoption, and coordinates with child welfare services run by the state.

Individuals and day cares with no access to play areas partner with the center, which provides a two-hour morning lesson, meal, playtime and access to a nurse and social worker at no additional cost. It costs the center R25 (about $2.50) daily to provide for each child, which it funds through corporate and private donations. The doors remain open for after-school play activities.

World Play Day is in its 14th year and is commemorated on May 28 as part of an advocacy campaign for early childhood education. It was started by a non-profit group, The International Toy Library Association.

Cotlands used to run an HIV hospice in 1996 to address the increasing problem of children born with the virus that causes AIDS in South Africa, which claimed 98 children at the non-profit group in 2002. The state later stepped up funding for anti-retroviral drugs, and infection rates have dropped.

At the peak of the AIDS crisis, the disease killed a child in the organization's care every week, Moodley said. In the last three years, she said, "we haven't had a single child die."

15-Jared Payne (Ulster), 14-Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne and New Zealand), 13-Elliot Daly (London Wasps), 12-Casey Laulala (Munster and New Zealand), 11-Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz and U.S.), 10-Nick Evans (Harlequins and New Zealand), 9-Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz and France), *8-Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais and Italy), 7-Sam Jones (London Wasps), 6-Samu Manoa (Northampton and U.S.), 5-Dean Mumm (Exeter Chiefs and Australia), 4-Marco Wentzel (London Wasps and South Africa), 3-Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester and Italy), 2-Schalk Brits (Saracens and South Africa), 1-Paul James (Bath and Wales).

Replacements: Duncan Jones (Ospreys and Wales), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso and Italy), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester and Scotland), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz and France), Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro and Italy), Kahn Fotuali'i (Ospreys and Samoa), James Hook (Perpignan and Wales), Mike Tindall (Gloucester and England).

* Denotes captain (Compiled by Patrick Johnston, editing by Nick Mulvenney)

Indeed, it's an increasingly well-worn path as pols with relatively thin political careersa couple of House terms or a stint in the governor's mansionhave increasingly gone on to publish books, host TV shows, and develop a robust, and sometimes lucrative, public persona.

It used to be that members of Congress used their decades on the Hill and vast political networks to land well-paid lobbying jobs. But with an explosion of media hungry for new, and often ideological, content, experience is no longer a prerequisite to finding high-profile, high-paying jobs after leaving office.

In her retirement announcement Wednesday, the Minnesota Republican left the door open to remaining in the public spotlight, saying, "After the completion of my term, my future is full. It is limitless, and my passions for America will remain."

And Bachmann, both a product of and ambassador to the tea party, fits the mold of conservative commentator well.

"Many Republicans thought that she was not going to run last time and that she would cash in her conservative credentials in order to make money from her tea-party connections just like Sarah Palin did," said GOP consultant Ron Bonjean. "Now she's going to be able to do just that. This is not the last we're going to see from Bachmann. She's going to be as high-profile as ever if she chooses to do so. She's a political player that can't stand staying out of the spotlight."

After her failed vice presidential run, Palin quit the governorship halfway through her first term to deliver paid speeches, write books, and appear on television. She even had her own reality TV show.

Bachmann's four terms in the House certainly trump Palin's more limited experience, and Bachmann has a solid base on which to build a future platform. Her presidential campaign raised $10 million, half of which came from small donors. And she was one of the top five House fundraisers in the first three months of this year, . Of course, she may also have to tap that donor base to defray any legal expenses resulting from investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the Office of Congressional Ethics, and other agencies into her presidential campaign.

Bachmann's timing may also be good. Last year, Bachmann beat her Democratic opponent by less than 5,000 votes and it was a race Democrats had targeted again in 2014. By announcing her retirement now, she is leaving on her own terms.

That's a marked contrast to Allen West, the one-term Florida congressman, whoas a tough-talking Republican. West, who lost his reelection race last year, made his name by saying some Democrats are Communist Party members, calling Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz "vile," and making other inflammatory statements. Now, the anti-Washington West is back in town .

Less bombastic, but more successful, is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who parlayed his ill-fated presidential run into a media empire that includes books and his own TV and radio shows.

But whatever Bachmann decides to do in her next act, Republicans expect that after , she'll soon start banging the drum and shaking the money tree.

As Bonjean put it, "She'll probably start putting out lightening-rod statements rather soon in order to stay afloat."

Kuchar, who clinched his fifth PGA Tour title at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February, made three pars in the early hours at Colonial Country Club to complete a five-under 65 second round before a third-round 69 left him with an 11-under total of 199.

Fellow Americans Matt Every (66), Chris Stroud (67) and Boo Weekley (66) and Canadian Graham DeLaet (69) were a further shot back at 10 under.

Sunday's final round will be wide open as 22 players are within five shots of Kuchar.

World number 13 Kuchar opened his third round with a birdie on the first but stumbled with bogeys at the par-four seventh and par-three eighth.

But the five-time winner steadied the ship and birdied the par-five 11th and par-three 16th to grab the outright lead.

DeLaet looked like he would grab the third-round lead after three birdies in his opening 11 holes but thoughts of his maiden PGA Tour win were tempered with three bogeys at 13, 14 and 17. A closing birdie allowed the three-time Canadian Tour winner to keep the dream alive.

Every made his run with three birdies in his opening six holes and another at the 13th. He bogeyed the 14th but gained the stroke back with a birdie mat 18.

Two-time tour winner Weekley had four birdies in his opening 12 holes, added further birdies at 15 and 18 but dropped a shot on the 14th and 16th holes.

After a bogey on the fifth, Stroud claimed four birdies in the final 13 holes to move into contention.

(Reporting by Ben Everill in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two top aides quit Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's office on Monday as the embattled leader of Canada's biggest city faces lingering allegations he was caught smoking crack cocaine on video, accusations he has firmly denied.

The departures of the mayor's press secretary and deputy press secretary came just days after Ford fired his chief of staff. The mayor confirmed on Monday that both George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom left of their own accord.

"I wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors and I want to thank them for working hard in this office," he told a crush of journalists outside his office. "That's it, it's business as usual."

Christopoulos and Ransom could not be reached for comment. But their departures renewed questions about whether the mayor would be able to weather his most serious controversy to date.

Ford has been under fire since reporters from the Toronto Star and Gawker Media said in separate reports on May 16 that they had seen a video that purports to show Ford smoking crack. The mayor directly denied the allegations on Friday, after initially dismissing the media stories as "ridiculous," without giving a full statement.

Reuters cannot confirm the existence of the video or its content.

The video, according to The Star and Gawker, was being shopped around by people involved in the drug trade. Both media outlets declined to pay the six-figure sum requested by the video's owners.

The controversy has made headlines across Canada and outside the country and drawn ridicule from late-night TV humorists Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno and Jon Stewart.

Speaking on his weekly radio show on Sunday, Ford brushed off the scandal, calling the media a "bunch of maggots," and promised to run in the next election.

"I'll be the first putting my name on that ballot," he said.

Ford apologized for his maggot comment on Monday.

The drug-use allegations are the latest in a string of scandals for the mayor, who has been chided for ignoring city work to coach high school football and was briefly ordered out of office last year after he was found guilty of conflict of interest.

While some of Ford's opponents have called for him to step down, one municipal affairs specialist said there was little that could be done under the current system to force a Toronto mayor from office.

"There is no recall or impeachment provision," said John Mascarin, a lawyer with Aird & Berlis LLP. "Stupidity is not one of the things" that can get you removed.

Elected officials can be removed from City Hall by court order in a conflict-of-interest situation, or if they do not attend council meetings for several months without being formally excused.

'FORD NATION'

Also on Ford's side is the steadfast backing of his core supporters, said Ivor Tossell, a journalist and author of the biography 'The Gift of Ford'.

"One of Ford's great political assets is he plays on a sense of marginalization and grievance among his supporters. He likes to play the little guy," he said. "In a way, the more the institutions like the media attack him, the stronger he gets."

The latest controversy does not appear to have hurt Ford's popularity, according to a Forum Research Inc poll released over the weekend, although he is at risk of being ousted in a 2014 election.

The poll, taken on Friday after Ford denied the drug-use claims, found the mayor would still lose a one-on-one battle if pitted against Olivia Chow, a former city councilor and current federal member of Parliament widely touted as a candidate.

It showed Ford would get 36 percent of the vote, in line with a May 10 poll taken before the latest scandal broke, while Chow would get more than half the vote.

The mayor's popularity has been attributed to the support of the "Ford Nation," suburban voters who pushed Ford into the city's top office in 2010 and back his agenda of cutting taxes and reducing city spending.

"Rob Ford is really both the Teflon and Kevlar Mayor - nothing sticks to him and nothing penetrates his armor," Forum Research founder Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement.

"His recent troubles have had absolutely no effect on his electoral prospects."

(Additional reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Peter Cooney)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank

The result, the first from a Canadian bank in a quarter that has seen Canadian housing sales activity slow, was roughly in line with analysts' estimates.

Shares fell 0.9 percent to C$83.25, underperforming TD's Canadian banking peers, which were also in the red on Thursday.

Income from TD's flagship Canadian retail bank rose 5 percent to C$847 million as stronger business lending and lower loan-loss provisions helped offset slowing consumer loan growth.

Canadian home sales activity has been more sluggish so far this year than in 2012, although prices have risen slightly.

Low interest rates have also pinched retail banking income by reducing the margins on loans.

This has prompted TD to bulk up its higher-margin lending in areas such as auto lending and credit cards. During the quarter, TD closed its acquisition of Target Corp's $5.9 billion U.S. credit card portfolio.

TD's U.S. retail banking network produced income of US$392 million, up 9 percent, on the back of loan and deposit growth.

"The basic business - the Canadian and U.S. personal and commercial banking - performed pretty well," said John Kinsey, a portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities in Toronto.

The bank, Canada's second-largest, earned a net C$1.72 billion ($1.66 billion), or C1.78 a share, in the second quarter ended April 30. That compared with a year-earlier profit of C$1.69 billion, or C$1.78 a share.

Excluding items including a C$58 million amortization charge, earnings were C$1.90 a share. Analysts on average had expected C$1.91, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

TD has about 1,100 bank branches in Canada and about 1,300 in the United States, with a sizeable presence on the Eastern seaboard. It also owns 45 percent of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

The bank announced it would buy back up to 12 million of its common shares, or about 1.3 percent of the bank's outstanding shares.

Colleen Johnston, the bank's chief financial officer, said the buyback was related to the bank's strong capital position.

TD's Tier 1 common equity ratio was 8.8 percent during the quarter, even after absorbing the Target credit card acquisition as well as the $688 million purchase of asset manager Epoch Investments, which also closed during the quarter.

That's comfortably ahead of the 8 percent level the Canadian banks will be expected to hold as of 2016.

"We're now at the point, as are other Canadian banks, where we can start more actively thinking about capital deployment, having built to these very good levels," said Johnston.

Wholesale banking income, which accounts for trading, investment banking and corporate lending, rose 12 percent to C$220 million, due to stronger trading-related revenue and lower expenses.

Barclays Capital analyst John Aiken said TD's results likely won't materially change expectations for the Canadian banks still to report, though he said the strong capital markets result should bode well for Royal Bank of Canada , which reports next Thursday.

National Bank of Canada , the country's No. 6 bank, reports on Friday.

($1 = $1.0336 Canadian)

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

It will be Pacquiao's first fight since he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in December, a defeat that prompted many to suggest the 34-year-old should retire after being left unconscious, face down on the canvas by his Mexican rival.

However, Pacquiao, winner of world titles at eight different weight divisions, has ignored the calls to quit and after the lengthy break will fight at the Cotai Arena in The Venetian Macao-Resort and Hotel, Fred Sternburg said.

It will be a first bout outside the United States since 2006 for Pacquiao 54-5-2 (38 knockouts), who also lost to Timothy Bradley in his only other bout last year.

The back-to-back defeats have seemingly ended all hope of a lucrative clash against undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Rios 31-1-1 (23 knockouts) is also coming off a loss, Mike Alvarado claiming a unanimous points decision in their March contest in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao's trainer Freddy Roach predicted a swift end to the non-title bout.

"Manny is definitely going to get his mojo back with this fight," Roach told ESPN.com.

"I think it'll be an exciting fight but that Manny is going to land ... and knock this guy out somewhere along the way. Rios likes to exchange and his style is not really difficult to figure out, so Manny's gonna hit him."

(Reporting by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Zoo officials say the Mangarahara cichlid is thought to be extinct in the wild and that two of the last known individuals both male are in the zoo's aquarium. A third is in the Berlin zoo.

Officials say the species' habitat in Madagascar has dried up due to dam construction.

The zoo on Friday asked aquarium owners and fish collectors to come forward it they know of any living females "so that a vital conservation breeding program can be started."

Officials say a worldwide search of zoo and aquarium organizations has so far proved fruitless.

President Shimon Peres issued his call ahead of a gathering of Mideast leaders on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan. Sunday's meeting was expected to include a rare face-to-face meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, along with the participation of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has devoted much of the past two months to restarting long-stalled peace talks.

"We shouldn't lose the opportunity because it will be replaced by a great disappointment," Peres told reporters in Jordan. "For my experience, I believe it's possible to overcome it. It doesn't require too much time."

Palestinian-Israeli peace talks broke down nearly five years ago, in large part due to disagreements over Israeli settlement construction on occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians.The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating while Israel continues to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, undermining their quest to set up an independent state. The Palestinians want both areas, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state.

Kerry, who met with Israeli and Palestinian officials last week during a swing through the region, said both sides must make hard decisions to move toward direct negotiations.

Peres, who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for helping forge an interim deal with the Palestinians, sounded upbeat and determined to help in peacemaking with Palestinians.

"It is time for peace," he said. "I believe this is an important opportunity to (engage), not to waste time, return to negotiations and complete the negotiations with the Palestinians."

He said a peace agreement must be "based on a two state solution: an Israeli state, a Palestinian state living as good neighbors cooperating economically and bringing a message to the young generation."

Traditionally an ardent supporter of peace with the Palestinians, Peres holds a ceremonial role in Israel. But his views are highly respected in Israeli society. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has most decision-making powers, holds more hawkish positions than Peres and has given few signs of how he sees a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, asked to comment on Peres' peace, blamed Israel for the stalled negotiations.

"President Peres know very much...that we (the Palestinians) are not the obstacle," he told The Associated Press.

"I hope that President Peres can convince the prime minister of Israel to accept ... the two states, that it is time to make peace and not talk about peace," Erekat added.

While Netanyahu has endorsed the concept of a two-state solution, the Palestinians accuse him of undermining that goal through his action. In particular, they object to continued settlement construction and Netanyahu's refusal to endorse Israel's pre-1967 lines as the basis for a future border.

Israeli media reported that the president discussed with Netanyahu some key issues he is expected to raise at Sunday's forum.

Peres has scheduled meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country maintains cordial ties with Israel under a peace treaty signed in 1994, and possibly Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also attending the WEF.

On his fourth visit to the Middle East since taking office in February, Kerry held talks with Netanyahu and Abbas last week. Jordanian officials said privately he was expected to meet Peres and Abbas while in Jordan.

____

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby also in Southern Shuneh, Jordan, contributed reporting.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Arab spring countries face rising social tensions that could thwart an early economic recovery from over two years of political turmoil that has worsened fiscal pressures and threatens macroeconomic stability, a senior IMF official said on Saturday.

Masood Ahmed, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said oil importers Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan faced the double shocks of high energy and food import bills and the impact of a global economic downturn along with growing popular disaffection since the wave of Arab revolts over two years ago.

"The big challenge this year is to manage the expectation of an increasingly impatient population to undertake the measures that will stabilise the economy and would begin to lay the foundations of an economic transformation that would generate more job creating and inclusive growth," Ahmed said.

"Those political transitions are turning to be more prolonged and in some cases more contentious and unemployment is higher and social unrest is rising," Ahmed told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) conference on the Middle East and North Africa.

Ahmed said the plight of these countries hit by protests was worsened by extra spending on food and energy subsidies that forced governments to draw on foreign reserves and expand domestic borrowing at high interest rates that raised public debt.

Political turmoil was hurting much needed private investments in the meantime, the IMF official said.

"In a number of these countries, private confidence has not yet taken hold so the recovery such as it was in 2012 was driven by continued government spending rather than a recovery in private activity," Ahmed added.

Two years of higher spending on wages and food and fuel subsidies will push budget deficit deficits even higher to an average eight percent in 2013. In Egypt, for example the budget deficit was expected to rise to between 10 to 12 percent of GDP this year, the IMF official said.

"The cost of that is that budget deficits have begun to rise and in some cases have risen to levels that are progressively unsustainable," Ahmed said.

SLUMPING RESERVES

Egypt's foreign exchange reserves have slumped since the revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 due to falling revenues from tourism and foreign investment. Jordan's foreign reserves had also fallen sharply but have since recovered this year with an infusion of Gulf Arab capital.

Growth levels that are forecast to average around three percent this year for oil importing countries were insufficient to absorb more job entrants in a region with traditionally high unemployment that has increased since the wave of unrest that swept the region since 2011.

"Already young people are suffering unemployment levels of close to 30 percent and in last two years there have been further increase in some countries," the IMF official added.

Governments had to grapple sooner than later with the politically sensitive subsidies that topped $240 billion in 2011 for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and accounted for about one half of global energy subsidies.

This was equivalent to about 8.5 percent of regional GDP, IMF figures show.

Universal energy subsidies were benefiting the top 30 percent income bracket among consumers and although Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia had begun to move towards targeted subsidies, more was needed to help reduce hefty subsidies that diverted much needed funds to spur growth.

"In the middle of political and social transition, it is even more difficult to undertake necessary reforms to reduce budget imbalances or try to take action to protect your reserves but the option of postponing these actions much longer really is not there for many countries," the IMF official said.

"The margin for maneuver is much more limited and today their cushions have been used up a lot and today they find they have the ability to borrow more from domestic markets constrained and their reserves positions are such they really cannot afford to let reserves run down much further," Ahmed said.

Lifting fuel subsidies had triggered civil unrest in Jordan last November and some analysts say the government's move to raise prices of heavily subsidised electricity in June under an IMF standby deal was fraught with risks.