OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians will be able to cancel their cellphone contracts after two years without penalty, instead of the three years that is the industry standard now, under a mandatory wireless code announced by the country's telecom watchdog on Monday.

Critics have long held that Canada's three providers that have almost the entire market, BCE Inc, Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp, impose customer contracts that are too stringent.

The rules from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) seemed likely to improve the ability of the small players to lure customers away, though Rogers said consumers may end up having to pay more up front if they buy phones below the retail cost, under a contract.

"I wonder if they made a mistake getting rid of the three-year contract. There was a lot of evidence at the hearings that this might mean that people make bigger upfront payments because they get smaller subsidies. The CRTC doesn't seem to think that will happen, but time will tell," said Ken Engelhart, head of regulatory affairs at Rogers.

"The Competition Bureau gets mad at me when I make price signals to reporters, but logic would dictate that when you have a smaller period to amortize that subsidy, you're not going to have such a big subsidy."

One of the small challengers to the Big Three wireless providers, Wind Mobile, said the rules would help them compete.

"They're better for competition and for consumers, and therefore as the competitors it's incidentally better for us," said Simon Lockie, chief regulatory officer at Wind Mobile, which launched its mobile service in 2009.

"All we've asked for is a level playing field, and this goes a long way to establishing that."

The new code also contains features designed to prevent consumers from being surprised with nightmare bills for hundreds or thousands of dollars in additional charges - what Lockie referred to as "explosive, unexpected data bills."

It requires providers to cap roaming charges once they reach C$100 ($97) within a single monthly billing cycle, and additional data charges at C$50, unless the customer consents to pay additional charges.

What the telecoms companies would do is inform the customers that they are about to hit their limit, at which time their service would be suspended unless express consent is given to go over.

"Canadians may finally now be freed of the worst of cellphone bill shock," said John Lawford, executive director of Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which appeared before the CRTC. He welcomed the fact that customers would more easily be able to switch companies.

Technology consulting company SeaBoard Group said the CRTC had clearly responded to Canadians.

"The bill shock protection (data usage and roaming) and the length of cell-phone contracts are areas where consumer complaints have been loud and strident," said SeaBoard analyst Iain Grant.

The code, which will take effect on December 2 and which was drawn up after thousands of submissions from Canadians, also will give customers the right to unlock their devices, though at rates specified by the company.

For customers with subsidized devices - ones sold below cost but tied to a contract - the company must let them unlock their devices within 90 days of the start of the contract. An unlocked phone is able to use any service provider at home or abroad by swapping in SIM cards, used to identify the subscriber. A customer with a two-year contract would still have to pay any minimum monthly fees stipulated, but would be free to use the cellphone on any network once it is unlocked.

For those who paid for their devices up front, the unlocking would be upon request.

And customers will be able to cancel their contracts without penalty except what is necessary to recoup the cost of any phone that was provided. Contracts in the U.S. are typically for two years.

Though Canadians pay some of the highest wireless fees in the world, in the companies' defense is the fact that they provide coverage in the second largest country in the world, with a relatively sparse population.

At a telecoms conference in Toronto on Monday, Rogers said it was happy to see a single code. "Canadians should have across the country one code that defines the standards they can expect," said Rob Bruce, president of communications at Rogers.

A CRTC spokesman said that if provincial and federal regulations have differences, the one that is most advantageous to the consumer would apply.

Shares of BCE, Rogers and Telus shares were down.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto; Editing by Carol Bishopric)

Ty Ban Nha (o ) ch thng st sao Haiti - nh: Reuters

chun b cho Confederations Cup, tuyn Ty Ban Nha ang c mt ti M tp luyn. Rng sng nay (9.6, gi VN), i bng do HLV Vicente Del Bosque c trn giao hu vi Haiti ti Florida.

Trc mt i th di c rt nhiu, nhng tng cc nh v ch th gii v chu u s d dng c mt chin thng m nhm tng nhu kh trc thm gii u khi ng cho World Cup 2014. Tuy nhin, dng nh vic va tri qua mt ma gii cng thng khin cho cc cu th Ty Ban Nha cha th hin c ht kh nng.

Vi dn sao trong i hnh, i bng chu u nhanh chng ginh quyn kim sot trn u. Nhng pha phi hp ca Ty Ban Nha nhanh chng em li kt qu khi h c bn thng m t s ngay pht th 8.

Khi m cc hu v Haiti ang tp trung s ch vo Fernando Torres v Juan Mata th bng c a n chn Santi Cazorla mt v tr ht sc trng tri. Tin v ang khoc o Arsenal khng b l c hi khi dt im chnh xc bng mt c st chn tri.

Fabregas (tri) l ngi ghi bn thng th 2 cho Ty Ban Nha - nh: Reuters

Hn 10 pht sau, t s c nhn i cho Ty Ban Nha khi mt cu cu th Arsenal lp cng. Mata c ng chuyn thun li cho Cesc Fabregas trong vng cm a v anh ny d dng nh u h th mn Frandy Montrevil bn pha Haiti .

Nhng tng hai bn thng s tip tc gip i bng n t x s u b tt thm hng phn v tip tc di bom vo li i phng. Th nhng, Ty Ban Nha khng duy tr c sc p c th thc hin iu .

Trong khi , vo th khng cn g mt, cc cu th Haiti thi u rt n lc. Mt s pha phn cng ca h t ra kh nguy him. n pht 75, Donald Guerrier mt mnh t ph xuyn hng th Ty Ban Nha, la qua c th mn Pepe Reina ghi bn thng rt ngn t s xung cn 1-2 cho Haiti.

Nim vui ca cc c ng vin Haiti khi i nh choc thng li i bng v ch th gii v chu u - nh: Reuters

Bn cnh n lc ca cc cu th Haiti, trn u va qua, Ty Ban Nha cng khng gp may. Tin o vo thay ngi Roberto Soldado c 2 ln dt im trng x ngang v ct dc khung thnh i phng. Ngoi ra, cui trn, tin o thuc bin ch Valencia cn b l mt c hi rt ngon n.

Vi chin thng st sao ny ca tuyn Ty Ban Nha, xem ra HLV Del Bosque vn cn nhiu vic lm trc khi bc vo Confederations Cup. Vo ngy 11.6 ti, Ty Ban Nha s c trn giao hu vi CH Ireland ri sau ln ng sang Brazil.

Khnh Uyn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sold off in late trading to close sharply lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 posting consecutive weekly losses for the first time since November, as investors were willing to take some money off the table after a seven-month run of gains.

The S&P 500 ended May up 2.1 percent, its seventh straight month of gains and its longest streak of monthly gains since 2009.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is up 14.3 percent in 2013 after repeatedly scaling record highs, scoring its best five-month start to the year since 1997. Over the past seven months, the S&P 500 has climbed 15.5 percent.

Trading has been volatile for most of the week on concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may ease its monetary policy, the main engine behind the strong rally in equities this year.

Data on Friday pointed to a soft U.S. economy, but failed to quell speculation about possible actions by the Fed to trim its stimulus measures. Consumer spending fell in April for the first time in almost a year and inflation pressures were subdued.

But a separate report showed manufacturing rose more than expected in May and reflected expansion of business activity after contraction in April.

"The economic data we have seen over the last week or so has been quite positive. It's the positive nature of that data, though it supports the market, it also speaks to the fact that tapering or a shift in monetary policy is more likely - the more positive it is," said Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"As a result, people are more than happy to ring the register - you never go broke ringing the register on a winning trade."

Selling accelerated near the market's close with the rebalancing of the MSCI indexes at the end of the day. Credit Suisse forecast $19 billion in total trading as a result of the rebalancing, with $15 billion related to developed markets.

According to Credit Suisse, U.S. stocks were expected to see the greatest amount of net selling at the close as a result of the MSCI rebalancing, with a net outflow of about $300 million from indexes.

"What's happened in the last hour here, there's some index and month-end rebalancing that accelerated the downturn," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president of BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Dow Jones industrial averageslid 208.96 points, or 1.36 percent, to close at 15,115.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexlost 23.67 points, or 1.43 percent, to finish at 1,630.74. The Nasdaq Composite Indexfell 35.38 points, or 1.01 percent, to end at 3,455.91.

For the week, the Dow fell 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1 percent.

For the month of May, the Dow rose 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq gained 3.8 percent.

The stock market's advance this year has come largely on supportive monetary policies from central banks around the world, which helped the markets ignore the Wall Street adage of "sell in May, go away" - a historical trend of seasonal weakness that tends to begin in May and continue through the summer. In May 2012, the S&P 500 fell 6.3 percent.

Energy and healthcare stocks were among the session's worst performers, with Pfizer Incand Exxon Mobil Corpthe two biggest drags on the S&P 500. Pfizer lost 3.6 percent to $27.23, while the S&P healthcare sector indexdropped 2.2 percent. Exxon Mobil slid 1.8 percent to $90.47. The S&P energy sector indexlost 2 percent.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final reading on consumer sentiment for May was 84.5 - the highest level since July 2007 - and above expectations for a reading of 83.7.

Palo Alto Networksshares lost 10.8 percent to $48.52 after the company gave an outlook that was below expectations.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Friday's White House event marks the beginning of a public campaign by Obama to temporarily extend current rates or to find a long-term compromise that avoids the scheduled rate increase.

Obama has proposed linking the rates to the financial markets. The Republican-controlled House passed a similar plan last week. But the differences between Obama's proposal and the House bill prompted a White House veto threat.

Obama's plan, unlike the Republican proposal, would lock in the rates for borrowers. The Republican plan would set a cap.

Obama mounted a campaign last year to extend the rates for one year.

Julien's Auctions said on Monday that it expects a signed white training robe, worn by Ali in November and December 1981 while he prepared for his final bout against Trevor Berbick, to sell for between $25,000 and $35,000 during a two-day auction starting May 31.

Ali, 71, shot to international recognition by winning the gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the Rome Olympics at age 18. He later won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 and became a socially conscious cultural icon by refusing to fight in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Also on offer from Ali's early career is a "Most Outstanding Boxer" trophy from the 1960 American Athletic Union's boxing championships, which is expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000.

A signed commemorative torch from the 1960 Rome Summer Games is estimated to sell for between $25,000 and $35,000.

The loquacious boxer signed the torch's light blue cannister as Cassius Clay, his birth name and Muhammad Ali, the name he adopted in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam.

The items are from the collection of Harlan Werner, a longtime memorabilia dealer and former agent for the Ali family.

Other Ali items up for auction are autographed boxing trunks, globes and photos of the boxer with other American sports heroes, including long-time boxing rival Joe Frazier, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and basketball star Magic Johnson.

Other notable items in the auction include a baseball signed by Hall of Fame players Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig ($8,000-$10,000), and a signed match-used cricket bat of Indian Sachin Tendulkar ($8,000-$10,000).

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bill Trott)

Zimmermann (8-2) allowed two runs and six hits with no walks over seven innings actually raising his ERA to 1.71 on an unseasonably chilly and windy night in the nation's capital. There was at least a bit of heat from the Nationals' bats, which have been going through such a cold spell that manager Davey Johnson said before the game he wouldn't shave again until his lineup started hitting.

As it turned out, the Nationals scored their most runs in a week, and they got four or more in the same inning for the first time almost a month. Steve Lombardozzi, playing second while Danny Espinosa recovers from a broken wrist, had three hits, including a two-out, two-run double that capped the rally in the four-run fifth.

Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick (4-3) had his shortest outing of the season, allowing five runs and eight hits over five innings. He walked four for the second consecutive start, including three consecutive bases on balls that allowed the Nationals to score a run in the second with a sacrifice fly and no hits.

The Phillies missed a chance to pull even in two ways. A win would have put them at .500 for the first time since April 14, and it also would have tied them with the Nationals, who had lost four of five and have been mired in mediocrity while dealing with the expectations of Johnson's preseason proclamation of "World Series or bust."

The Nationals just completed a 10-game West Coast road trip that included a four-game losing streak, the team's sixth shutout loss of the season, Bryce Harper's head-first collision with a wall and a broken hand for Ryan Mattheus after he punched his locker following a rough outing. Washington entered the game hitting .225, second worst in the majors, and the scraggly-looking Johnson arrived at the ballpark saying: "I decided I wouldn't shave until we started hitting."

Both teams are missing some star power. The Phillies don't have Roy Halladay (shoulder surgery) and Chase Utley (oblique strain), while the Nationals are making do without Jayson Werth (hamstring) and Espinosa, who learned Friday that he's been playing with a slight fracture in his right wrist and will need a few days of rest, if not more.

Domonic Brown's RBI single in the second and Erik Kratz' sacrifice fly in the fifth gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead, but the Nationals put together five hits in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 5-2. Adam LaRoche hit an RBI triple off the center field wall and Kurt Suzuki had an RBI single before Lombardozzi's drove in two more.

Tyler Clippard pitched the eighth for the Nationals, and Rafael Soriano sailed through the ninth for his 14th save.

Notes: Washington's last four-run inning came April 25 against the Cincinnati Reds. ... Headgear on both players when flying when Tyler Moore crashed into Kratz while trying to score on Lombardozzi's single in the fourth inning. Kratz held on to the ball, and Moore was out. ... Philadelphia recalled INF-OF Michael Martinez and RHP Michael Stutes to replace Utley (disabled list) and RHP Phillippe Aumont (optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley). ... Phillies RHP Mike Adams (right back strain) felt fine after a second rehab bullpen session Friday and is expected to be reactivated Sunday. ... Washington LHP Ross Detwiler will throw a full bullpen session Saturday and remains on pace to return to the rotation Tuesday after skipping one start because of back spasms.

___

Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

Boehner survived, battered and humbled, but there was no time to hold grudges. The internal wounds opened in the 112th Congress were bleeding into the 113th, and Boehner knew he wouldnt last long as speaker (let alone help his party block the agenda of a commandingly reelected president) unless he sutured those wounds. Tomorrow, Boehner would appear before the entire fragmented GOP conference at its annual retreat to set the next years agenda. But first he needed a plan to win back the trust of conservatives. So now, on this winter afternoon, he was meeting with five RSC leaders not to gloat about his reelection but to secure their support.

Four of the guests had at some point chaired the RSC: Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Tom Price of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who had taken over the committee just weeks before. The fifth attendee was House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a longtime RSC member and the recently defeated vice presidential candidate. They were putting the final touches on a deal with the speaker, weeks in the making, to hide ideological divisions by agreeing on a legislative strategy for the new Congress.

Not long ago, it would have been ludicrous for the House speaker to approach the Republican Study Committee on bended knee, much less to depend on it to restore harmony to the conference. The committees philosophy of governance would vex any speaker: Members consider themselves conservatives first and Republicans second. They did not come to Washington to play for the Republican team; they came to fight for conservative principles. If that means voting against party interests, so be it. For core RSC believers, ideological purity trumps legislative accomplishment. Period.

For decades, the group was seen as a parasitic anomalya fringe organization of hopeless ideologues surviving off the perception of undue moderation among Republican leadership. Several previous speakers had bullied or ignored it, and one even dissolved the RSC in a quest to squelch internal dissent. For decades, the committees membership rolls were thin, and internal GOP debates didnt matter much anyway, because the party was in the minority.

But the 2010 midtermsthanks to an influx of ideologically charged lawmakers converging with an increasingly conservative GOPchanged everything. More than 60 of 85 GOP freshmen joined the Republican Study Committee, giving the group a record 164 members. The committee known as the conservative conscience of the House was now, for the first time in history, a majority of the House majority.

As a result, its influence grew geometrically, and, today, no single subgroup drives the legislative agenda like the RSC. When its members rally against a bill, it usually fails; when they join to push a proposal, it almost always succeeds. Indeed, since 2010, the RSCs embrace or rejection of any legislative effort has become the surest indicator of whether it will pass the chamber. With 171 members today, the Republican Study Committee is the largest caucus in all of Congress, as Scalise puts it. If Boehner and his conductors make the trains run, RSC members are the soot-soaked boilermen shoveling coal into the furnace.

Or refusing, as they sometimes do, to shovel. In the last session of Congress, they made life miserable for Boehner as he attempted to exert authority over his caucus that he did not possess. Opponents of the RSCincluding some within the GOPs ranksnow see it as a mob of conservative kamikazes willing to hold the government hostage until their demands are met. During the debt-ceiling negotiations of 2011, Vice President Joe Biden allegedly labeled these lawmakers terrorists.

Everyone knows Washingtons policy: No negotiating with terrorists. But back in January, Boehner had no choice. By seeking the RSCs assistance, he was accepting its de facto control of his conference. Supplication was the only way to salvage his speakership. The defenders of the faiththe ones who argue that principles are not bargaining chipshad finally penetrated the innermost sanctum of power.

Before becoming president of Washingtons premier conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, Ed Feulner was a congressional aide to Republican Rep. Phil Crane of Illinois. One day in 1972, Feulner says, his boss was meeting with several fellow House conservatives, including Ed Derwinski of Illinois, John Rousselot of California, and Ben Blackburn of Georgia. The discussion turned to a club of liberal House members who convened weekly and called themselves the Democratic Study Group. Look at what theyve done in terms of making sure the Democrats in control of the House are always under pressure from the left, one member said. Why cant we do this on the right?

An idea was taking shape. These conservative House members decided in the long term to target Minority Leader Gerald Ford, whom they saw as a moderate deal-maker rather than a principled conservative. (Ford, foreshadowing the frustration to be felt by future House leaders, fancied himself a conservative but found it impossible to earn the trust from his right wing.) We said, If Jerry Ford isnt getting any pressure from the right, the only way hes going to go is left, Feulner recalls.

First, though, the conservatives went hunting for bigger game. Presidents Nixons welfare plan contained a provision to guarantee Americans a certain annual incomea notion that horrified right-wingers in both chambers of Congress. So Crane had Feulner reach out to conservative aides in the Senate in the hope of joining forces to defeat Nixons plan. Soon, Feulner was working with Paul Weyrich, a young staffer for Sen. Gordon Allott of Colorado, and other conservative Hill aides. The group persuaded the governor of Californiaa popular conservative named Ronald Reaganto testify against the plan before the Senate Finance Committee. The measure eventually failed, and Reagan rewarded Crane by coming to meet with him in the Capitol. Looking back, Feulner says his work with Weyrich, who later founded the Heritage Foundation, laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the Republican Study Committee.

In the months following the welfare episode, Crane and company worked to formally launch the group. But members soon realized that pressuring leadership required real resourcesstaff members to churn out studies, charts, and memos, and to organize the logistics of a new, independent caucus. To accomplish this, Crane and his staff designed a system to hire apparatchiks for their new organization by putting them on multiple payrolls. That way, say, five lawmakers might split the cost of one operative. In 1973, the RSC launched with this model. Sharing staff members was easily done under House rules then, says Feulner. By the time I became executive director in 1973, I was on, like, four different payrolls at any one time.

The group quickly won adherents. When other conservative members saw the sharp materials RSC researchers produced, they asked to join. What began as an informal club ballooned within a few years from four members, to 12, to 20. The new strength in numbers allowed the RSC to contemplate how it might shape the broader GOP agendaand, by extension, the national one.

But that wouldnt work with Republicans out of power. At best, the RSC could have only as much influence as the House GOP had. When the conference is weak and stuck in the minority, the RSC becomes an afterthought on Capitol Hill. The mission of the RSC is always more important when youre in the majority than when youre in the minority, Hensarling says. In the majority, youre actually passing legislation; in the minority, youre mainly in the communications business.

This helps to explain why the committee was irrelevant during the 1980s. Between the groups founding in the 1970s and its resurgence in the 1990s, longtime RSC observers say, it had a negligible impact. Democrats controlled the House, and President Reagan was a kindred spirit whose policies they had little cause to protest. Eventually, the tide of history would turn and conservatives would reestablish their reputation as predators. But first they would become prey.

To fathom the psyche of Congresss most conservative lawmakers, its useful to study the ferocity with which they protect the RSCs autonomy. Whenever the House leadership has even hinted at meddling with the grouprumors swirled last fall that Boehner would try to oust Executive Director Paul Teller at the start of the next sessionthe reaction has been swift and sharp. In this case, conservatives successfully lobbied to keep Teller on as a counterbalance to Scalise, whom some RSC members saw as too cozy with leadership. This history of insulating their group from external interference dates back two decades, when someone the committee considered a friend betrayed it.

After Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 1994, ending a four-decade stint as the permanent political underclass, the ambitious new speaker, Newt Gingrich, planned several shake-ups. Among his first priorities was to get rid of the Republican Study Committee, which he viewed as a threat to the harmony of the House Republican Conference. To eliminate the RSCwhile avoiding the appearance that he was singling out conservativesGingrich devised a plot to abolish all Legislative Service Organizations, the 28 groups that functioned with the shared staff model perfected by groups such as the RSC and the Congressional Black Caucus. The new speaker spoke craftily about the need to save taxpayer money and eliminate unnecessary expenses, but the message was clear to every conservative in Washington: Gingrich was determined to eliminate the group that could endanger his speakership.

He began immediately after the 1994 election by convening a meeting of the next House Republican Conferenceall returning members, plus the incoming freshmen. Numerous newbies, having heard about the RSC, were devastated when Gingrichs staff announced it was going away. Two of them, John Shadegg of Arizona and Steve Largent of Oklahoma, spoke up. The entire freshman class was there, and we were taking over the majority, Shadegg recalls. Largent and I got up and argued it ought to be saved.

When the meeting adjourned, Majority Leader Dick Armey yanked Shadegg and Largent into an adjacent room. Nice try, but its gone, Armey told them. By abolishing the RSC, the new speaker neutralized a potential menace. But in doing so, he also provoked some GOP members who were incredulous that their self-styled conservative leader would attack a bastion of conservative activism. One of them was Ernest Istook, an outspoken sophomore from Oklahoma, who whispered to a colleague during that meeting, It cant be healthy for all the resources to be concentrated in the hands of party leadership. Istook wanted to know where rank-and-file members would turn for objective analyses on leadership-endorsed legislation.

He wasnt alone. Having arrived in Washington together in 1990, GOP Reps. John Doolittle of California and Sam Johnson of Texas shared a friendship and political philosophy. RSC members both, they were stunned by the power play. Almost immediately, they began plotting to revive the organization. To circumvent Gingrichs restrictive language, they needed someone with intricate knowledge of both the old RSC infrastructure and the House itself. No one was better qualified than Dan Burton of Indiana, who was RSC chairman at the time of its dissolution. Burton, too, had been scheming to resurrect the committee.

As these three began strategizing around the new House rules, they recruited Istook. He suggested that rather than spend House resources on RSC employees, lawmakers should instead hire part-time staffers who could roam between offices working for different members on RSC projects. We set up a structure of rotating the payroll for these employees from one office to the next, so that everyone was, in effect, sharing the cost but working within the new rules, Istook explains.

Now the four members could reboot the RSC, but they wanted a fresh start and a new name to emphasize aggressive ideology over passive partisanship. Istook suggested CAT, for Conservative Action Team. The others approved, and soon Istook was printing lapel pins featuring a roaring mountain lion and distributing them to conservative members curious about rumors of the RSCs resurrection. The rechristened group had returnedwith a new generation of leaders.

This foursome, known since as the founders, nurtured the group with weekly meetings to discuss policy and strategy. (Today, the weekly RSC meeting, which is still part debate forum and part strategy session, is considered the cornerstone of conservatism on Capitol Hill.) Each of the four founders served as chairman on a rotating basis for four to six months. But that proved too chaotic. It got to the point where we felt it had become an organizational weakness that we didnt have a single chairman, Doolittle recalls. Their unanimous choice as CATs first chairman was Rep. David McIntosh of Indiana, who had earned a reputation since arriving in 1995 as unafraid to challenge party leadership. But when Republicans lost seats in 1998 and Gingrich stepped down, McIntosh retired to run for Indiana governor and passed the chairmans job to his class of 94 colleague, Rep. John Shadegg, a combative conservative with a talent for taking the temperature of his colleagues.

Shadegg had, in his first term, become an invaluable resource for Gingrich, who liked to summon him and ask, What are conservatives up to? But everyone knew where Shadeggs loyalties lay. He had not come to Congress to advance the Republican agenda but to promote conservative principles. So when the founders approached him, Shadegg jumped at the chance to become the de facto leader of House conservatives. I was a natural, he says of their choice. He took the group from 40 members in 2000 to 72 in 2002. He also carved out an antagonistic new role for the chairman, fighting party leaders over everything from budgets to committee assignments. And he restored the groups old name, the Republican Study Committee. The people who founded it [back in 1973], they created the Republican Study Committee to study the issues, he recalls. I thought it should have more gravitas than it had by calling itself CAT.

The founders continued to fret over conservative fealty, so they had retained the power to choose their groups chairmen. Elections, they feared, would allow moderates to infiltrate the organization at the behest of leadership and push a party loyalist for the chairmanship. But after the controversial pick of Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, their choice to succeed Shadegg in 2003, they tweaked the selection process to include RSC members. Now the founders (expanded to include all past chairmen still serving in Congress) would nominate a candidate, and any member could challenge them with signatures from 25 percent of the RSC to force a group-wide vote. After the tenure of Rep. Mike Pencewho took the RSC in an assertive new direction on fiscal policy and famously proposed steep domestic spending cuts to offset new government outlays in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrinathey got their first challenge. Members had expected Pences right-hand colleague, Jeb Hensarling, to get the nod; when he didnt, he rounded up signatures and defeated the founders choice, Todd Tiahrt of Kansas. The Republican Study Committee was now run as much by its members as by its founders.

And as everyone soon found out, that didnt mean backsliding: Hensarling, who took over as Democrats won control of the House, chaired the group during some defining moments for the conservative movement. Under his leadership, the RSC rankled the Republican establishment by opposing major policies being pushed by President George W. Bush, such as the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the automaker bailouts. After Hensarlings chairmanship came Price, whose task was made doubly difficult when Republicans, still in the House minority, lost the White House in 2008. Price describes his tenure as exhilarating because the RSC was in attack mode. Members pounded Presidents Obamas policies, such as the economic stimulus and health care reform, and spoke for conservative orthodoxy. Still, Price says, we were not able to blunt many of the horrendous policies coming out of the administration. When 2010 arrived, they would get their chance.

Im always asked back home, Are there others up there like you? Price pauses and smiles, savoring the punch line. The fifth-term lawmaker, who occupies the seat once held by Gingrich, says his constituents are curious about the culture of Capitol Hill. Specifically, they wonder if hes lonely as a Republican working in a town dominated by Democrats. They want to know, Price says, you got any friends up there? Thats when Price tells them about the Republican Study Committee.

The RSC today is much more than an affinity group; its a fraternity, a place where kindred souls come together to trade political ideas and share life experiences, Price says. Members go to dinner, play golf, and attend Bible studyactivities that strengthen relationships forged by former strangers with a shared political philosophy. Its a clubhouse. The thing I like most about it is, you get a chance to work with people who believe in the same things you do, Jordan says. My best friends are in the RSC.

In theory, this was a great setup for the 112th Congress. House conservatives had formed bonds. Reinforcements had arrived in abundance. Boehner was taking back the speakers gavel. And Jordan, a Boehner ally who represented a neighboring Ohio district, was taking over the RSC. Yet the bonhomie wouldnt last.

Traditionally, the leadership initiates incoming members, but with so big a freshman class, this was easier said than done. Besides, these rookie lawmakers werent interested in the how its done in Washington speech. They were intent on shaking things up, not playing the pawns in Boehners chess game. When more than 60 of the new Republican members enlisted in the RSC, it became clear that Jordan, not Boehner, would have to corral them (even though two former RSC chairsHensarling and Priceworked on Boehners leadership team).

Soon, two warring factions had formed: the moderates loyal to Boehner, and the conservatives led by Jordan. They collided in increasingly ugly fashion, climaxing during the July 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations. Boehner pitched a plan to offset debt extensions with spending cuts. But many conservatives thought Boehners cuts didnt go far enough, and some RSC staffers began e-mailing outside pressure groups, such as Heritage Action, to turn committee members against the deal. The e-mails leaked; Teller, who hadnt written them himself, was nonetheless identified as the chief culprit. Furious conservatives felt betrayed by their flagships own crew. At a conference-wide meeting called the next day, some members chanted, Fire him! at Teller.

Jordan, who remembers the incident as pretty heated, apologized for the e-mails but remained opposed to Boehners proposal. Look, its politics, Jordan says of the episode. Its a game for grown-ups. Its supposed to get intense. Teller is unapologetic about the incidentor about the RSCs other run-ins with leadership. Were not there to smile and nod, he says of his group.

The internal acrimony reached its zenith with an end-of-session failure to rally behind Boehners Plan B for avoiding the fiscal cliff, which proposed to extend the Bush tax cuts for those earning $1 million or less. Conservatives argued against raising taxes on anyone. That episode ended in December with Boehner reciting the serenity prayerGod, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot changeto members of the GOP conference. Republicans had reclaimed the majority with a mandate to fight the Obama agenda, but they had spent as much time fighting each other. Two weeks later, in the opening days of the new Congress, 12 RSC members attempted to overthrow Boehner.

Thats when the speaker convened the Williamsburg summit on that cold January afternoon.

RSC chairmen are always surprised to learn about the guidelines for the jobnamely, that there arent any. The supremo enjoys what Price calls a lot of latitude to determine the groups strategic direction.

Scalise knew that full well. The groups current chairman, a soft-spoken man of Sicilian heritage who carries a fava bean in his pocket for good luck, had a front-row seat for the internecine battles of the 112th Congress. He knew Republicans could not effectively battle Obama until they called an internal cease-fire. So when he met with the founders last November to ask them to nominate him for the chairmanship, Scalise posed a simple question. As conservatives, he asked, how do we define victory?

His message was straightforward: The RSC should focus less on preaching conservative values and more on passing conservative policy; it should emphasize actions over words. He ran for the chairmanship of the group against Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia (the founders choice) as the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, the sequester, and the continuing resolution all loomed, and he won by promising RSC members that he would work to secure a series of victories, giving House Republicans momentum and putting Senate Democrats and the White House on the defensive.

At the annual retreat in Williamsburg, after conservative leaders had come to terms with Boehner, Scalise lobbied skeptical RSC members to join the ideological armistice. In exchange for approving a temporary extension of the debt limit in January, Boehners leadership team would support a series of conservative policy solutions to the upcoming list of legislative challenges. Many RSC members doubted the durability of this agreementsince dubbed the Williamsburg Accordbut were persuaded to give Boehner one final chance to earn the trust of the conservative rank and file.

Four months later, both Boehner and Scalise have delivered. Consistent with the Kingsmill Resort compromise, the sequester cuts went into effect; the continuing resolution was passed with lower spending levels; and the Houses proposed budget would balance in 10 years. Meanwhile, thanks to the RSC-favored No Budget, No Pay provision attached to the debt-ceiling deal, Senate Democrats were forced to come up with their first budget in four years. Were not a think tank, Scalise says. Were a group of 171 legislators who all came here to fight to pass conservative policy into law.

The Republican Study Committee has, throughout its history, been ideologically pure yet often impotent to achieve legislative results. In the minority, it lacked power or numbers to drive the agenda; in the majority, it focused on infighting over policy. Now, for the first time in its 40-year history, the stars have aligned. Not only is the RSC still emphasizing ideology over partisanshipand passing conservative policy in the processbut it is also pulling the entire conference rightward. Were hitting our stride, says Teller, whos worked for the group since 2001.

There is, of course, a certain irony. The Republican Study Committee has gained size, strength, and influence by preaching that leadership must always be pressured and never be trusted. Now the RSC finds itself more powerful and accomplished than it has ever been, mainly because its members decided to set aside their suspicions and strike a deal with leadership. Its still a fragile relationship, likely to shatter at any sign of ideological betrayal. But, according to many conservatives, Boehner has finally earned the trust of the Republican Study Committee. God bless the speaker, says Jordan.

Somewhere, Gerald Ford is smiling.

reached the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Moore this afternoon as lightning and hail continued to batter the devastated city. The survey process is subjective, but team members rely on a checklist of 28 tornado damage indicators to estimate wind speeds and the degree of damage.

The National Weather Service's (NWS) four survey teams also found several areas of damage rated as EF-4 along the tornados path, according to the Facebook page of the NWS office in Norman, Okla. The preliminary ranking could still be revised in the coming days, as crews continue to assess the damage.

Tornadoes are ranked on the . An EF-0 rating is reserved for minor damage, and an EF-5 is considered the most severe, with winds topping 200 mph (322 km/h).

The Moore tornado excavated a path up to 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) wide along a 17-mile-long (27 km) stretch of central Oklahoma, the NWS said. The twister touched down 4.4 miles (7.1 km) east of Newcastle at 2:45 p.m. CDT and ended 4.8 miles (7.7 km) east of Moore, a southern suburb of Oklahoma City, at 3:35 p.m. CDT. []

At first, the tornado caused little damage on the ground. But the storm ramped up quickly, intensifying to EF-4 levels in about 10 minutes and in just about 4 miles (6.4 km), the NWS said. The storm , with winds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h) by Interstate 44 near Moore.

There have been 58 F5 or EF-5 tornadoes in the United States since 1950, according to the NWS. The rating scale was updated in 2007 to more closely align wind speeds with storm damage.

The United States has more than 1,000every year, and only 1 percent of those ever reach EF-5 strength, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

"In any given year, you will have maybe a dozen EF-4s and maybe one EF-5," said Bob Henson, a meteorologist and science writer for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

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