The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) 1

2. "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $28.95) 2

3. "Zero Hour" by Clive Cussler/Graham Brown(Putnam, $28.95) -

4. "Deeply Odd" by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $28.00) -

5. "The 12th of Never" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown,

$27.99) 3

6. "Dead Ever After" by Charlaine Harris (Ace, $27.95) 4

7. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 6

8. "Silken Prey" by John Sandford (Putnam, $27.95) 5

9. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 9

10. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $27.95) 8

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 3

3. "Eleven Rings" by Phil Jackson (Penguin, $27.95) 2

4. "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $27.00) 5

5. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

6. "Keep It Pithy" by Bill O'Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 6

7. "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, $40) 7

8. "The 100" byJorge Cruise (William Morrow, $25.99) 8

9. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 10

10. "My Greek Drama" by Gianna Angelopoulos (Greenleaf, $26.95) 9

Week that ended June 2, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Doina Chiacu)

Vilified by fans for his poor performance in the playoffs. Pursued by Major League Baseball in yet another case involving performance-enhancing drugs. Called out by his employer for not behaving like a Yankee should.

A Lightning Rod for all the wrong reasons, none of the off-field distractions and there have been plenty have seemed to have had any effect on A-Rod in the past.

It shouldn't be any different this time.

As MLB ramps up its investigation into the Florida anti-aging clinic linked to the sale of performance-enhancing drugs to Rodriguez and more than a dozen major league players, the three-time AL MVP quietly rehabs his surgically repaired hip at the Yankees' minor league facility in Tampa, Fla., with plans to return in the second half of the season with "a lot of unfinished business."

Even as a solitary figure on a field in Florida, Rodriguez is a bother in the Bronx.

Earlier this week, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told ESPN he didn't think the 14-time All-Star third basemen could live up to his record $275 million, 10-year contract that runs through 2017. A day later managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner piled on, saying "there have no doubt been times when we've been disappointed in him and we've conveyed that to him and he understands that."

There's been plenty to be disappointed about.

After winning his second MVP and earning his fourth of seven All-Star nods with the Yankees in 2007, Rodriguez opted out of his contract during the World Series, rankling baseball executives. Two years later he admitted using steroids while with the Texas Rangers from 2001-03. He's also been investigated for participating in illegal poker games.

Rodriguez is as careless as Yankees captain Derek Jeter is discreet. A-Rod has been repeatedly splashed on the gossip pages with Madonna, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz and Torrie Wilson. He caused a stir when he was seen with a stripper in Toronto and at a swingers' club in Dallas. For a magazine spread, he was photographed kissing his reflection in a full-length mirror no one loves Alex more than Alex.

And that's just off the field.

Last October, he was benched in three of nine games and pinch-hit for in three others after being removed from Game 1 of the AL championship series, he was caught flirting with fans in the stands. His next hit against a right-handed pitcher will be his first in 19 at-bats. He was 0 for 18 in the postseason against righties. With each of his outs, fans booed more loudly and were more decisively convinced that he was done as a player.

But there is no end with A-Rod.

And there's little the Yankees can do about it and the remaining $104 million of Rodriguez's contract.

There was a time when Rodriguez was touted as the star who would restore credibility to the record book. Now MLB wants to throw the book at him.

And the Yankees might prefer it if he just goes away.

Even if MLB suspends Rodriguez for 50 or 100 games for his connection to Biogenesis of America and its founder Anthony Bosch, the Yankees can't use that to void his contract because of language in baseball's drug agreement.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia said he and his teammates are behind Rodriguez no matter what comes out of the investigation.

"There'll be nothing but love and support in here," he said.

But the drug agreement does allow for a team to void a contract if it is proven that a player's injury was a direct result of his use of performance enhancers.

The physician who performed Rodriguez's surgery in January, Dr. Bryan Kelly of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, debunked that theory. He said the condition, known as femoral acetabular impingement, was caused by genes, not by steroids.

"This is a developmental, genetic predisposition to a certain shape of the hip joint that occurs during the first 15 years of development," Kelly said. "Steroids don't change the shape of your bones, of your hip joint."

That leaves the Yankees in the position of hoping the soon-to-be 38-year-old Rodriguez will retire a big money saver for the team or can have a resurgence similar to the one he had in 2009, when he returned from his first hip surgery and nearly single-handedly led the team to its first World Series title since 2000.

Of course, that New York love-in for Rodriguez didn't last long. The following spring he was tied to Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor who was indicted in part for illegal possession of human growth hormone with intent to distribute. The team made it known they never authorized Rodriguez to be treated by Galea.

(Reuters) - An award-winning Oklahoma television meteorologist has been criticized as "irresponsible" for telling viewers on Friday to get in their cars and flee approaching tornadoes, and some are blaming him for putting people in grave danger on clogged roads.

Mike Morgan, chief meteorologist for Oklahoma City television station KFOR, told viewers during a tornado warning to get in their cars and drive away from a threatened storm.

Some people said they followed his advice and ended up stuck in traffic jams on major central Oklahoma highways as a massive storm bore down on the Oklahoma City area.

The result was a "nightmare" on the roads, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said, exacerbated by some employers letting people off early from work to beat the rush hour on Friday.

Tornadoes and flooding from the Friday storms killed 20 people, the chief Oklahoma medical examiner's office said on Wednesday in its latest update of fatalities. Fallin said some people were sucked from their cars and some vehicles tossed from the roads.

It was the second wave of deadly tornadoes in the area in two weeks. A monster twister flattened whole sections of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20. One Oklahoma tornado on Friday was the widest ever recorded in the United States at 2.6 miles, the National Weather Service said.

Morgan, an 11-time weather broadcast award winner in Oklahoma, where meteorologists are admired for timely forecasts about tornadoes, gave viewers the standard advice to seek cover in a storm cellar, shelter or other safe place below ground.

But some critics said Morgan then went too far when he told viewers: "If you can leave South Oklahoma City and go south do it now." He repeated similar advice several times.

Morgan was not the only local forecaster to give such advice as the storm front threatened to hit the major population center of Oklahoma City.

'IRRESPONSIBLE REPORTING'

Ernst Kiesling, research professor at Texas Tech's National Wind Institute, said it was wrong to advise people to get in their cars and try to outrun a tornado.

"Irresponsible reporting of that kind is unconscionable in my mind. You have the responsibility to give more than your off-the-cuff opinions."

Cassandra Donnelly of Oklahoma City was one of those people who headed south on the advice of newscasters and got stuck in traffic.

Donnelly said she saw cars driving the wrong way and through stop signs on one of city's major arteries. She eventually pulled off the road into the bushes.

"I told my mom and my sister to keep praying. The rain was horizontal," Donnelly said. "We were pushed forward twice."

Morgan has not appeared on the network since Friday, and the station said he is on vacation and would be back on Thursday. He could not be reached for comment.

But a statement from KFOR on Wednesday said: "After every major storm, we review our coverage and the many things that make each weather event unique, for the purpose of improving our coverage and our ability to forecast."

Greg Carbin, Meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said a car is a more dangerous place to be than a well-constructed home in a tornado.

"You will more likely put yourself in more danger by leaving your house," he said.

Some people defended Morgan. David Barfield of Oklahoma City said he believes Morgan's advice two weeks ago during the monster tornado in Moore saved his daughter's life.

His daughter was in an above-ground closet but Barfield, following Morgan's advice to go underground, kept telephoning her to urge her to leave. She eventually did and survived.

"She would have died if she had stayed there," Barfield said.

(Additional reporting by Heide Brandes; Editing by Greg McCune and Mohammad Zargham)

The British rider responded to an attack from Alberto Contador to catch the two-time Tour champion for his first career stage win in the Dauphine.

Froome clocked 3 hours, 28 minutes, 39 seconds across the 86-mile trek from Gresy-sur-Aix to Valmorel, finishing four seconds ahead of Contador and American rider Matthew Busche.

Froome is 52 seconds ahead overall from Sky Procycling teammate Richie Porte and 54 ahead of overnight leader Rohan Dennis. Froome was runner-up to Bradley Wiggins at last year's Tour de France.

(Reuters) - No pilot was required when the Aeryon Scout took off into the leaden skies of Alaska to inspect a stretch of oil pipeline. The miniature aircraft was guided by an engineer on the ground, armed only with a tablet computer.

The 20-minute test flight, conducted by BP Plc last fall, was a glimpse of a future where oil and gas companies in the Arctic can rely on unmanned aircraft to detect pipeline faults, at a fraction of the cost of piloted helicopter flights.

It could become reality as soon as 2015, when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) opens up American skies for the commercial use of unmanned aircraft, popularly known as drones.

While technical shortcomings and strict regulation are likely to limit the use of drones in the near term, the rules governing public airspace will be more relaxed in the wilderness of Alaska than in the lower 48 states, industry experts say.

"We're going to take baby steps," said Gary Shane, senior project manager and chief technology officer of BP Pipelines in North America. The company plans to deploy its first drones in the Alaska North Slope within three years, he told Reuters.

Laid end to end, the more than 300,000 miles of natural gas pipelines that crisscross the United States would circumnavigate the planet 12 times. There's a lot of money to be saved by reducing the number of manned flights on these routes.

A small, unmanned vehicle fitted with a heat-sensing camera costs about $85,000, while it costs about $3,000 to send a helicopter to monitor an oil pipeline for an hour, said Dave Kroetsch, chief executive of drone manufacturer Aeryon Labs Inc.

The drone, therefore, would pay for itself within 29 hours.

BP began researching the use of unmanned aircraft in 2006. Royal Dutch Shell Plc began a year earlier. One aim, says Shell, is to track the movement of marine mammals to assess the impact of the company's operations in the seas off Alaska.

The Scout is the flagship product of Aeryon Labs, a private Canadian company based in Waterloo, Ontario - the same university town that gave rise to BlackBerry.

Under a meter in length, the Scout weighs 1.2 kg (2.7 lbs) - tiny when compared with the 1,020-kg MQ-1 Predator drone used by the U.S. military and manufactured by San Diego-based General Atomics.

Aeryon Labs calls the Scout a "flying robotic reconnaissance system". It has been used by Gaddafi-era Libyan rebels and seen action in a Central American drugs bust. (http://r.reuters.com/zec68t)

A camera mounted on the drone transmits a live feed to the operator. In the case of pipeline work, sensors can pinpoint the location of a suspected leak and detect signs of decay, such as cracks or rust, said Ian McDonald, Aeryon Labs' vice-president.

With four rotors and legs allowing for vertical take-off and landing, the Scout can also hover closer to a pipeline than any helicopter could. Proponents of the technology say this will help oil companies to find defects earlier than they can now.

According to a U.S. government report on pipeline safety, the public was quicker to report pipeline leaks than companies' in-house detection systems in a third of cases recorded between January 2010 and July 2012. (http://link.reuters.com/wyk48t)

SHORT FLIGHTS ONLY

So with all these advantages, why aren't more oil companies signing up? Why do Canada's two biggest pipeline operators, Enbridge Inc and TransCanada Corp, prefer traditional methods for inspecting their U.S. pipeline routes?

Technology, for one thing. Drones might not be new - BP also used the Aeryon Scout to help direct clean-up crews after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 - but they are yet to be proven for large-scale commercial use.

"We have looked at this in detail, but advanced drone technology is largely proprietary to the U.S. military," said Enbridge spokesman Graham White.

"Our experience is that there is still no substitute for human eyes, knowledge and expertise when inspecting the lines."

The 20 minutes flown by the Aeryon Scout is about the most that a small drone can manage. The sophisticated sensor systems needed for inspection are too big for longer flights; "miniaturizing" these sensors will take time, said BP's Shane.

Also missing from today's fleet of drones is the collision avoidance technology that automatically instructs an aircraft to take evasive action if an obstacle appears in its path.

While doubts persist, some oil majors are on the sidelines. ConocoPhillips said it was interested, but that it did not operate its own aerial surveillance program. Exxon Mobil Corp declined to comment for this article.

David Yoel, chief executive of industry consultants Aerospace Advisors Inc, said it would be at least 10 years before unmanned aircraft are in common use along U.S. pipelines.

Draganfly Innovations Inc, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based manufacturer that sold several drones to deepwater oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, said industry-wide sales had begun to flag, due largely to the regulatory environment.

"Actual sales have definitely slowed, especially in the U.S., because of people's issues with the FAA regulations," said Kevin Lauscher, Draganfly's industrial sales manager.

INTO THE WILDERNESS

Current U.S. federal law permits only public agencies and universities to fly drones in public airspace. BP teamed up with the University of Alaska Fairbanks when it tested the Scout.

This should change from September 2015, by which time the FAA is mandated by Congress to have drawn up rules for their commercial use.

Even public agencies today must operate drones under strict regulations, and these restrictions will not disappear overnight for commercial users, industry experts say.

Such rules - drones must fly in daylight hours only, for example, within the remote operator's line of sight and more than five miles from any airport, big or small - are hardly conducive to monitoring a vast pipeline network.

Gretchen West, executive vice-president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), said she believed that drones would become "an important technology" for oil and gas companies. "(But) it's still going to be several years before it's not heavily regulated."

Alaska just might be the exception.

It's very remoteness could win it special dispensation that would permit drones to be operated round-the-clock and controlled from beyond the line of sight.

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 - the existing law that stipulates the September 2015 deadline for commercial drone use - saves a separate mention for the Arctic.

"The FAA is working ... to integrate unmanned aircraft into the Arctic region, where potential uses include wildlife observation, oil and mineral exploration, sea ice studies and pipeline monitoring," FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.

The FAA estimates that about 7,500 commercial "small unmanned systems" - drones weighing up to 55 lb (25 kg) - will be in operation within five years of its opening up the skies.

For companies such as Aeryon Labs and Draganfly, the challenge will be to develop the technology to drive more sales.

"Manufacturers and start-ups see that there will be great potential," said West. "This is going to be a great industry."

(Editing by Robin Paxton)

Cullen Finnerty, 30, a former Grand Valley State University quarterback, went missing Sunday while fishing near his family's cottage. His body was found in Webber Township about a mile from where he disappeared, but authorities said no foul play was suspected. An autopsy will be needed to determine how he died, they said.

Finnerty led Grand Valley State University to three Division II national titles and more than 50 wins during his four years as a starter in Allendale, Mich., last decade. His body was found about 8 p.m. in woods within a mile of where he disappeared, said Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson.

Robinson said the body was not in the water and was found in a wooded area in near the family's cottage.

The search drew scores of police and volunteers, including staff and players from Grand Valley State.

Finnerty last spoke to a family member that night in a phone call in which he said "he was nervous about something," Sheriff Robert Hilts said earlier Tuesday. Based on that call, the family suspected "he might be having some kind of a mental episode that he was either afraid or something and ran off into the woods," Hilts said.

The sheriff said authorities had been tracking Finnerty's cellphone "until it went dead." The terrain made the search for the 6-foot-3, 230-pound ex-athlete difficult, Hilts said.

"This is the last river that I'd pick to fish," he said, citing logjams and dense brush. "And it's a very tough river to navigate."

Searchers from the sheriff's office, state police and area fire departments fanned out Tuesday across a square-mile area of Webber Township, which is about 65 miles north of Grand Rapids.

In addition, dozens of current and former Grand Valley State players, coaches and staff hopped on a bus and headed north to Lake County to lend a hand in the search effort.

Grand Valley coach Matt Mitchell, who was a defensive assistant when Finnerty led the Lakers to national titles in 2005 and 2006, as well as former Grand Valley coach and current Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin were among those helping out.

Finnerty, who starred at Brighton High School, originally accepted an offer to play at the University of Toledo but transferred to Grand Valley after redshirting in 2001.

The dual-threat QB played for Grand Valley teams that won Division II titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He briefly was a member of the Baltimore Ravens and later the Denver Broncos.

Mitchell said Finnerty was "held in very high regard. He was the starting quarterback on national championship teams. But he's more than that: He's one of the most loyal teammates we've ever had."

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was Grand Valley's coach during the 2003 national championship season.

"It's very chilling," Kelly said Tuesday, before Finnerty's body was found. "He led me to a national championship as a true freshman. When I left, coach Martin took over and won two more national championships. My heart goes out to the family and to his beautiful wife."

___

AP reporter Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind., contributed to this story.

___

Mike Householder can be reached at mhouseholder(at)ap.org and http://twitter.com/mikehouseholder

In the frequent, violent clashes that have occurred with police, two people have died, another is on life support, and about 1,000 have been wounded, medical services and rights groups say.

A NEW WORD EMERGES

The protests' focus remains Taksim Square and its Gezi Park in central Istanbul, which has been occupied by demonstrators of all walks of life for more than a week.

In the first days of the protests, Erdogan dismissed the demonstrators as "capulcu" (pronounced CHA-pul-dju) a Turkish word that translates as marauder, looter or plunderer. Protesters quickly turned the word to their advantage. They made it their own, creating a brand new verb "capulling" which means protesting, resisting the tear gas and shouting anti-Erdogan slogans.

The word has taken social networks by storm. Facebook users update their status: "I'm capulling today" and ask each other "Have you capulled?" It has appeared on banners, signs and handwritten slogans on T-shirts.

Social media users are exchanging links to a music video entitled "Everyday I'm Capulling" and to one of American left-wing philosopher Noam Chomsky sitting in front of a sign reading: "I am also a capulcu" and saying in Turkish: "Everywhere is Taksim, resistance is everywhere."

In protests in the Turkish capital, Ankara, one woman was walking around with a sign attached to her back: "Thank God we are capulcus." Other people distributed stickers in Ankara and Istanbul: "Beware Capulcu."

BURGEONING BARRICADES

Protesters want to make sure the police and their water cannon trucks and tear gas rounds can't reach Taksim Square and its occupied park. What better way to prevent entry than setting up barricades? Lots of them.

The barriers range from the elaborate battered, smashed-up or burned-out buses and cars, often decorated with graffiti to the simple. Piles upon piles of heavy bricks have been ripped up from sidewalks to form barriers, topped with metal railings, plastic ticket booths, overturned metal dumpsters and scaffolding taken from building sites.

One street leading from the square down toward the Bosporus Strait has more than a dozen barriers. Its sidewalks are now just sand paths, as all of their paving stones have been used to construct the barriers. On one recent night, a tourist bus unloaded a group of bemused or worried-looking tourists at one of the barricades, as a hotel employee guided them past it to their hotel on Taksim Square.

At night during clashes, protesters stand atop the barriers for a better vantage point, or use them as a rudimentary shield from the flying tear gas canisters shot by riot police. By day, the barricades become backdrops for commemorative photos, a good location to pin up artwork, a climbing frame for the more playful, and a location for impromptu soccer games.

CLEAN-UP CREWS

Protesters hundreds during the day, burgeoning into thousands or tens of thousands at night and clashes with police can generate an awful lot of trash. But those occupying the park and square seem determined to keep the place tidy.

In the cool morning air, volunteers wearing surgical gloves and dragging trash bags scour the park and the square, picking up the detritus of the previous night. Discarded surgical masks used to ward off the worst of the gas, empty plastic water bottles, food wrappers, even cigarette butts are all picked up. The trash is then collected together in an ever-increasing pile on the edge of the park.

YOGA IN THE PARK

Some protesters are doing yoga to relax and stay in shape. Earlier this week, the morning open-air yoga class in Gezi Park was a small affair an instructor leading about a dozen people stretching out on colored yoga mats on a grassy patch in the center of the park. By Thursday, the classes had swelled to about 80 people, and the instructor resorted to a loudspeaker to make herself heard.

PROTEST HUMOR

The reasons behind Turkey's eight days of protests are serious enough. But demonstrators have also reacted with humor, particularly on social media sites, often lampooning the prime minister.

In response to Erdogan branding those who drink alcohol as "alcoholics," a group of protesters in Ankara on Wednesday night chanted: "The alcoholic movement cannot be stopped!"

Turkish users of social media have also been sharing photos of ironic slogans spray-painted onto city walls in Istanbul and Ankara.

"This gas is fantastic my friend!"

"You banned alcohol, the people sobered up!"

"Help, Police! Oh never mind, you must be busy"

"Welcome to the gas festival"

"Tear gas works wonders on your complexion"

TENT CITY

With each passing day, more and more people have descended on Istanbul's Gezi Park with tents, blankets and sleeping bags. With thousands thronging the park during the daytime, some rudimentary self-organization was needed.

So the tents have been set up in neat rows mostly. A piece of cardboard with a hand-drawn map is pinned at the park's entrance, showing visitors and new residents alike what's where.

There's a medical station for those feeling unwell; a library with donated books doing a brisk trade; food stations of donated meals and sweets as well as stands selling everything from grilled meat to fish, steamed mussels to popcorn and bright pink cotton candy.

Pets are welcome too. And if they feel unwell, they can head to the "Capulcu Veterinary Clinic" in a blue tent in the center of the park. Meals can be provided too, and a huge bag of dog food stands outside.

A stage has also been built in the center of the park, with people making speeches and a rapt audience clapping and cheering. A generator has been brought in to power the microphones and speakers.

Throughout the park, parents stroll with their toddlers, students do their homework and people walk around holding tablets in the air to record video of the scenes.

____

Fraser reported from Ankara. Thanassis Stavrakis in Istanbul contributed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Merck & Co's experimental insomnia drug moved a step closer to U.S. approval on Wednesday after a panel of medical experts said it is effective and safe at lower doses.

The advisory panel was convened to help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decide whether to approve the drug, suvorexant, which would be the first in a new class of sedatives that block chemicals in the brain called orexins that help keep people awake. The drugs are designed to help people fall asleep and stay asleep.

On Monday, the FDA's internal reviewers published a report expressing concern about suvorexant's potential to cause next-day sleepiness and impaired driving. They asked the committee to consider whether patients should be started at a lower dose than that recommended by Merck.

Merck proposed that elderly patients start by taking 15 milligrams of the drug and increase that to 30 if necessary. The company recommended non-elderly adults start on 20 milligrams and increase to 40 milligrams if needed.

On Wednesday, the FDA reiterated its opinion that there was little evidence in Merck's data to show that the higher dose was more effective than the lower dose, and considerable evidence to show it was less safe.

The FDA's reviewers pointed to an increase in the risk - especially at the higher doses - of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, impaired driving, and severe sleep disturbances.

Speaking for the FDA, Dr. Ronald Farkas noted cases in which patients had reported sleep paralysis and terrifying hallucinations. He also expressed the agency's concern about the drug's impact on driving.

"What we are trying to prevent is criminal prosecution of patients taking their drug as prescribed," he said.

The FDA's views were echoed by those of several patient advocacy groups.

"Like its predecessors, suvorexant's marginal benefit in extending overnight sleep time by a few minutes is achieved at the expense of prolonged, next-day drowsiness, with potentially fatal consequences," said Dr. Sammy Almashat, a researcher with Public Citizen's Health Research Group who noted that suvorexant stays in the body longer than all but one other sleep drug.

Still, the panel voted 13 to 3, with one abstention, that the drug could be used safely at the 15 and 20 milligram doses. It voted 8-7, with two abstentions, that the drug is not safe at 30 and 40 milligrams.

LOWER DOSE

Merck celebrated the vote, saying in a statement that it was "excited about the potential of suvorexant as a new and different approach to treating insomnia."

The FDA is not bound to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so.

The FDA had asked the panel to consider whether patients should start with a 10 milligram dose, saying data from a smaller trial showed that amount might work for some people. Merck disputed that, saying 10 milligrams would not be effective.

The FDA also asked the panel if Merck should conduct an additional trial to further evaluate a 10 milligram dose. The panel voted against that. Some agreed that 10 milligrams would not be effective. Others agreed in principal with a lower starting dose, but most said a new trial would not add meaningfully to the information already in hand.

"When you have something new you don't know everything you would like to know," said Dr. Christian Guilleminault, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. However, he added: "I'm not sure that doing another study is going to bring us much more."

The FDA's concerns come amid a broader review of the safety of sleeping pills following hundreds of reports of driving accidents involving people taking zolpidem, the active ingredient in Sanofi SA's Ambien.

About 60 million prescriptions for these drugs were written in the United States in 2011, according to healthcare research firm I.M.S. Of those, roughly 40 million contained zolpidem.

In January, the FDA told drugmakers they should lower the recommended dose of zolpidem in women to 5 milligrams from 10 for immediate-release products including Ambien, Edluar and Zolpimist. The agency said doses for extended-release products should also be cut in half.

Dr. Jason Todd, a panel member and staff neurologist at NorthEast Neurology in Concord, North Carolina, said patients are adjusting to the lower dosing recommendations for Ambien.

"Before the recent changes I almost never saw a patient who would take 5 milligrams and stay with it," he said. "Now that 5 milligrams is recommended people are OK with 5 milligrams."

The panel's ultimate recommendation surprised some analysts who had expected, based on the FDA's review, that the meeting would be more contentious.

"Based on the overall discussion today and the voting of the panel, we believe that the probability of FDA approval for suvorexant has gone up meaningfully," Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst at ISI Group, said in a research note.

Having said that, he said: "We admit that predicting a final FDA decision is difficult."

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Alden Bentley, Leslie Adler and Edmund Klamann)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Chevron Corp. has agreed to lend $2 billion to a joint venture with Venezuela's state oil company in an effort to boost production in an oil field in western Zulia state.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez signed the loan deal Monday with Ali Moshiri, Chevron's head in Latin America.

Venezuela's PVDSA oil company owns 60 percent of the joint venture, Petroboscan, while Chevron has a 40 percent stake.

Ramirez says financing will help boost production in the Boscan field from 107,000 barrels a day to 127,000 barrels.

Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves but production has been falling the past decade. The government has relied heavily on the country's oil income to fund social programs, and reinvested relatively little of it to exploit new fields and replace depleted ones.

RELATED:

Some might call it overkill to so thoroughly protect a site that doesn't really have that much personal information. (Though, LinkedIn members do provide credit card details to pay for premium subscriptions.) But it's good to get in the habit of doing a lot more leg-work to make sure, you know, someone doesn't sabotage your rsumé. The future is in doubly sure password protection. Plus, as far as hackers are concerned, one site is just the gateway to another — before you know it, they're inside your email and running rampant.