The Italian-born challenger briefly ruffled the champion by landing a couple of punches in the second round but apart from that appeared out of his depth.

Klitschko twice sent his opponent to the canvas in the fourth round before the referee called a halt to proceedings eight seconds from the end of the sixth as Pianeta took a pounding.

The 37-year-old Ukrainian extended his unbeaten run to 18 fights, his last defeat coming when he challenged Lamon Brewster for the WBO title in 2004.

Overall, he has won 60 of his 63 fights, including 52 within the distance.

Klitschko holds the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA crown and his older brother Vitali holds the WBC crown. The two have pledged not to fight each other.

Pianeta, who at 1.93 meters is five centimeters shorter than his opponent, was previously undefeated with 28 wins and one draw.

"He started well and he tried to take the fight to me, he fought with great courage," said Klitschko.

(Reporting by Brian Homewood, editing by Alan Baldwin)

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg's death Monday presents the state's popular Republican governor with a series of decisions that carry consequences beyond who will serve as New Jersey's next U.S. senator. While Republicans and Democrats alike will be watching Christie's next moves closely, there's no telling what the governor who has staked out a reputation for going his own way will do.

"I give him praise on a life well-lived," Christie said of the Democratic senator with whom he frequently tangled. The governor made the comment during an appearance at a women's conference and then canceled the rest of his public schedule Monday, clearly mindful of the high stakes involved in choosing Lautenberg's successor.

Christie said he would discuss the succession plan at a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Trenton. He didn't say he would be announcing a successor.

Christie has wide latitude to choose Lautenberg's successor but it would be unusual for him to select a Democrat. Four states require the governor to choose a member of the outgoing senator's political party but New Jersey is not among them. With Lautenberg's death, the Senate now has 52 Democrats, 45 Republicans and two independents who often side with the Democrats.

For Christie, who has enjoyed strong approval ratings, picking the wrong successor might reflect poorly on him as he looks to win by a large margin against Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono, who is considered an underdog against the well-known governor. Choosing a conservative might help him with national Republicans but could undercut his moderate bona fides, which have helped him connect with independents and Democrats in his state.

In the longer term, the wrong person could irk Republican leaders in Washington and activists in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. If Christie selects a Republican with views that are out of step with the GOP base someone who supports abortion rights or gun control, for instance it might hurt Christie with party stalwarts. The appointee's vote could tip the balance on issues like immigration reform, which the Senate is expected to begin debating in the weeks ahead.

Christie's appointee also could offer a window into the governor's own thinking on issues and thrust Christie into an ongoing fight between establishment Republicans and the GOP's tea party wing.

The governor, who has brought a blunt-speaking independent streak to the Republican Party, took flak from fellow Republicans when he appeared alongside President Barack Obama on the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the state about a week before the 2012 election. He appeared again with Obama last week to promote the Jersey Shore's recovery and repeatedly has spoken of the need for politics to be set aside for the good of his state.

Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the U.S. Senate Republicans' campaign committee, said the governor has "demonstrated time and again that he will do what he believes is best" for his home state.

Picking a Democrat to carry the torch from Lautenberg however unlikely might win him bipartisan love in liberal-leaning New Jersey but would enrage Republicans already suspicious of Christie's chummy relations with Obama after Sandy. Christie has maintained good relations with Newark's Democratic mayor, Cory Booker, who decided to run for Senate instead of challenging Christie, but appointing the media-savvy Booker might be viewed as treasonous to Republicans.

"I don't envy the governor on his decision," said Julie Roginsky, a New Jersey-based Democratic strategist.

If Christie is looking for a well-regarded placeholder, he could turn to former Republican Gov. Tom Kean, who served two terms as governor from 1982 to 1990 and served as chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

Other Republican possibilities include Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, likely viewed as Christie's heir apparent if the governor runs for president; Kean's son, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who was defeated by Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2006; state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a Christie ally who was defeated by Menendez last year; former Gov. Christie Whitman; state Sen. Kevin O'Toole; or Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., has also been mentioned.

Roginsky said appointing a caretaker Republican like Kean, the moderate former governor, would not be viewed favorably by Republican leaders or party activists in early presidential voting states. But appointing a hard-core conservative "would definitely hurt him at home" as he runs for re-election.

While Christie appoints a senator to fill Lautenberg's seat, it's unclear when that new senator would face an election. Even that process carries risks for Christie.

He could decide to hold a special election in November, but the presence on the ballot of Booker, the likely Democratic Senate nominee, might drive more Democratic turnout and affect Christie's ability to win big against Buono. If Christie says the next Senate election should wait until 2014, the governor runs the risk of a hand-picked Republican getting trounced by Booker only months before launching a presidential bid.

Dayspring said a 2013 contest could mean a "potentially ugly and quick" primary between Booker, who already had announced a Senate bid, and potential challengers like Reps. Frank Pallone and Rob Andrews. A 2014 race, he said, would allow a Republican appointee to "build trust and name identification with voters."

The state's laws on choosing a successor appear to be contradictory. One provision says that if a vacancy occurs more than 70 days before a regularly scheduled statewide general election, the vacancy would be filled on the next statewide general election Nov. 5, 2013 when Christie will be on the ballot. But another law says the election would be held during the next general election only if the vacancy occurs 70 days before the state's primary, which was being held Tuesday. In that case, the Senate election would be held in November 2014, when Lautenberg's seat was scheduled to be considered by voters. The late senator had said he would not run for re-election.

National Republicans say they want the Senate election to be held in 2014 and hope Christie appoints a GOP official who will run for the seat outright. The thinking: It would give the appointee more than a year to serve in the Senate and build a record that might help the person in the Democratic-tilting state.

New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. The last Republican to serve in the Senate was Nicholas Brady, who was appointed by Kean in 1982 to finish the term of Democrat Harrison Williams, who resigned amid scandal in the last year of his term. Lautenberg won the seat later that year and remained in the Senate until his death, except for a brief retirement in 2001 and 2002.

Many governors have taken the placeholder route in recent years: Ted Kaufman, a longtime aide to Joe Biden, was appointed to the Senate when Biden became Obama's vice president; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick chose his former chief of staff, William "Mo" Cowan, to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's Senate seat on an interim basis until after a special election.

Other appointments have turned into political liabilities. Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, withstood criticism from Latinos for appointing then-Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to a Senate seat in January 2009 to replace Ken Salazar, who became Obama's interior secretary.

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Follow Geoff Mulvihill on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

___

Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield. Angela Delli Santi contributed from Trenton.

The 76-year-old Francis, who walks with a slight limp because of apparent lower back pain, paused several times in prayer during the 45-minute nighttime walk between St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major.

Thousands of pilgrims holding candles lined the route on a chilly spring evening.

During his nearly eight-year pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI would make the annual Corpus Domini procession riding on a specially outfitted flat-top pickup truck, kneeling in prayer. Pope John Paul II did the same in his final years.

On Thursday, two priests knelt on the truck in prayer before the Eucharist while Francis walked behind them.

RELATED:

NWS officialsthat the tornado's diameter was measured with a "mobile radar unit" stationed on a stretch of U.S. Route 81 just south of El Reno, near where the twister passed through the town of 16,729 residents. The radar unit was, presumably, luckier than the  that was upended by the very tornado it was designed to chase — and the storm chasers who, miraculously, made it out of the car alive. .

"You have to confront them head on. And this is just another one," Kelly said Monday after revealing he's been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.

Kelly drew upon his family, faith and perseverance when facing major hurdles. Kelly leaned on those strengths to help overcome the death of his son, Hunter, and of his mother, and whatever obstacles stood in his way on the football field.

"I'm down at the bottom. But I will rise to the top again," Kelly said. "I am extremely confident in my road to recovery. I plan to tackle this challenge head on, as we Kellys always do."

Informed of the diagnosis two weeks ago, Kelly called the prognosis for recovery "very good." He said tests show the cancer is isolated to the jaw.

Doctors plan to remove part of Kelly's jaw during an operation at a Buffalo hospital on Friday. It won't be determined until after surgery whether he will require chemotherapy

"We caught it in time," the 53-year-old Kelly said. "It's just another challenge for me and I know I'll beat it."

The announcement was made shortly before the start of the former quarterback's 27th annual Kelly for Kids charitable foundation's celebrity golf tournament.

The news of Kelly's condition immediately drew support from those attending the tournament.

"The first thought is you say a prayer that everything works out OK," said Bill Polian, former general manager of the Bills, Panthers and Colts. "Secondly, he didn't earn a reputation as the toughest guy ever to play quarterback for no reason at all. So if anybody can overcome this, Jim can. He takes challenges head on."

Receiver Andre Reed, Kelly's favorite target, called the quarterback a "tough dude."

"Jim's a fighter. We think he'll be OK. We're all in his corner," Reed said. "He's such a resilient guy, and that's been our motto forever, in whatever we did.

"He's got the support, and Jim will be OK."

Kelly spent 11 seasons with the Bills before retiring following the 1996 campaign, and has since made Buffalo his home. Known for his fearless, swashbuckling style, Kelly was the face of Bills teams that made four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, only to lose them all.

Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, Kelly still holds nearly every significant career franchise passing record: 35,467 yards, 237 touchdowns and 26 300-yard games.

News of Kelly's condition also attracted many well-wishers from around the world on social media. The term, "PrayersForJK," became popular on Twitter.

"I LOVE JIM KELLY," Kelly's teammate and Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas posted on his Twitter account.

The diagnosis stems from pain Kelly began experiencing in his jaw in December. He initially thought it was an infection, but grew concerned when antibiotics failed to help.

Tests eventually led to doctors removing a nickel-sized cyst from his gums and nasal cavity during an operation in early March. Follow-up tests revealed the cancer.

"When you hear the word 'cancer,' it automatically scares you," he said. "But I'm very confident. My faith is definitely there. And that probably, more than anything, has kept me going, and the support I've gotten from my family."

Concerns about Kelly's health were first raised last week when his wife, Jill Kelly, posted a message published on imgur.com. Without going into detail, she noted that the family was going through a "more serious battle under our roof," and asked followers to pray for her husband "for healing."

Later, a youth sports foundation in Sioux Falls, S.D., announced that the Hall of Famer would not be able to attend the Hy-Vee/Sanford Legends banquet on June 13 for personal reasons.

This is but the latest operation Kelly will have had over the past few years. He's also had surgery to correct back, neck and hernia problems.

Kelly has remained active despite the diagnosis.

On May 26, he joined country music artist Tim McGraw on stage and threw footballs into the crowd during a concert outside Buffalo. A week earlier, he attended The Preakness in Baltimore.

And then there was Kelly playing host to the many weekend festivities involving his charitable foundation.

Kelly was upbeat in addressing reporters Sunday, while attending the foundation's annual gala and auction. He was just as engaging before the golf tournament in making sure to greet many of his guests. Taking the microphone to start the tournament, Kelly joked while reminding everyone to enjoy themselves, cautioning that mulligans were not allowed.

"Jim cuts a wide swath," former teammate turned broadcaster Steve Tasker said. "He doesn't forget people. And for that, people love him. That's why Buffalo loves him. That's why I love him.

"He's a teammate in life."

The Kelly for Kids Foundation was established in 1987, and has since donated millions of dollars to numerous organizations around the region.

Kelly later founded the Hunter's Hope Foundation in honor of his son, Hunter, who was born with Krabbe disease. That's an inherited degenerative disorder of the central and peripheral nervous systems. The disease hinders development of the myelin sheath, a fatty covering that protects the brain's nerve fibers.

Given little more than three years to live, Hunter died at the age of 8 in 2005.

Regular season record: 58-24

How they qualified: Won Southwest Division in the regular season. Beat the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs, edged the Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the second round and beat the Memphis Grizzlies 4-0 in the Western Conference final.

Head coach: Gregg Popovich

Top playoff scorer: Tony Parker (23 points per game)

Top playoff rebounder: Tim Duncan (9.2 rebounds per game)

NBA titles: Four (2007, 2005, 2003, 1999)

The San Antonio franchise was founded in 1967 as the Dallas Chaparrals, a member of the old American Basketball Association, and after being known as the Dallas and Texas Chaparrals they became the San Antonio Spurs in 1973.

Three years later they joined the NBA, one of four former American Basketball Association teams to remain intact in the NBA after the two leagues' 1976 merger. They are the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship and currently play in the Southwest Division.

Their four NBA titles are the fourth most in league history, behind the Boston Celtics (17), Los Angeles Lakers (16) and Chicago Bulls (6).

Coach Gregg Popovich has been a part of all four title runs, with the Spurs never having lost a Finals' series, going four-for-four.

San Antonio, led by Hall of Famer George Gervin, captured five division titles in their first seven years in the NBA and were a perennial playoff participant.

They won their first title in 1999 behind the Twin Towers of future Hall of Famer David Robinson and current standout Tim Duncan.

The addition of French shooting guard Tony Parker and Argentine point guard Manu Ginobili brought three more titles - in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

This season, behind their big three of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, the Spurs finished second to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference regular season, but ousted the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs to reach their showdown with Miami well rested. (Compiled by Gene Cherry and Frank Pingue; editing by Julian Linden)

The feisty and combative coach was fired by the New York Rangers on Wednesday after four-plus seasons behind the bench and four trips to the postseason.

Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather was vague when pressed for reasons why Tortorella was let go.

While no specifics were given, Sather made it clear that it wasn't just one thing or particular incident that led to the somewhat unexpected dismissal.

"I am very appreciative of what Torts has done here," Sather said during a conference call. "We had an evaluation at the end of the year like we always do. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. I felt that this was the decision that had to be made to go forward.

"I think he was a little bit shocked, but he is a gentleman and he took it very well."

The fiery Tortorella was let go four days after the Rangers' season ended with a Game 5 loss to the Boston Bruins. New York reached the Eastern Conference finals last year and was considered a championship contender in this lockout-shortened season.

Tortorella conducts business on and off the ice with an iron fist, treating players and media members alike. His abrasive style could have been a factor in the decision to make a change.

"Every coach has a shelf life," Sather said. "I've told every guy that I've hired that at some point in time this is going to change.

"Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and we didn't achieve that goal this year. I had to make a decision, so I did."

Tortorella was dismissed with one year left on his contract.

In 319 regular-season games with New York, including a four-game run at the end of the 1999-2000 season, Tortorella went 171-118-1-29. He was 19-25 in the postseason, and reached the playoffs four times after taking over as coach in February 2009.

"Every time a coach gets fired, it is a surprise for me, because ultimately, we, the players, are responsible for our own play on the ice," Rangers backup goalie Martin Biron told The Associated Press in a text message.

Tortorella, hired to replace Tom Renney with 21 games remaining in the 2008-09 season, achieved some success with the Rangers but couldn't match the Stanley Cup title he earned in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Sather said Tortorella's contract status didn't factor into the decision.

A replacement wasn't named immediately, but Sather hopes to have a new coach in place by the NHL draft on June 30.

Former NHL coaches Lindy Ruff and Alain Vigneault could be candidates. Sather wouldn't speculate on them or whether anyone currently employed by the Rangers would be considered.

The fate of assistant coach Mike Sullivan will be decided during the team's organizational meetings in June.

"Hopefully whoever we hire has a lot of the good things that Torts had and a lot of good things that Tom Renney had," Sather said. "There are a number of good coaches around, and a lot of them have different qualities. It is a little tricky sometimes to find someone who has all those qualities.

"I am certain that we're going to find the right person."

Last season, Tortorella led the Rangers to 51 wins the second-most in franchise history and 109 points before they were beaten in six games by New Jersey. He finished his Rangers tenure in fourth place on the team's coaching wins list.

The 54-year-old Tortorella got the Rangers back into the playoffs, and New York outlasted Washington in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Boston.

Tortorella made curious comments on Monday when the Rangers packed up for the season, remarks that could have led to his ouster.

In his final meeting with reporters, Tortorella said the Rangers weren't emotionally ready to take on Boston after getting past Washington with back-to-back shutout wins when they faced elimination.

"One of the things, and it falls on my shoulders, is our team's mindset going into another round," Tortorella said. "I don't think our mindset was ready to play another series and to the level you need to be at. It didn't have a playoff atmosphere.

"That's what I struggle with right now. I didn't do a good enough job in correcting and getting their mindset back to not only play at the level of a Game 7 in the first round, but get ready for round 2, which is always going to be tougher."

But Tortorella was defiant in his assessment that this wasn't a down year for the club.

"I know the surrounding feeling here is that it was a negative season, a disappointing season. I don't buy it and I won't," Tortorella said. "There are some good things that happened. I don't think we took a step backward. I think this is a sideways step in our lineup and how things worked out.

"We played really well our last couple of months to get in, found a way to win a big series against Washington, and against Boston I thought we competed right to the end."

Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed with that assessment. Lundqvist is entering the final year of his contract and would be eligible to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

"It is a step back," Lundqvist said. "We were in the conference finals last year, we had high expectations on ourselves this year. It didn't go our way, so yeah it is a step back. It's tough to make it there, though. You can't just expect it to happen."

Sather said he hadn't talked to Lundqvist, but added the team's plan is to sign him to a new long-term deal.

The Rangers entered the 48-game season as a prime contender to win the Stanley Cup, especially after the offseason acquisition of top forward Rick Nash in a trade with Columbus.

After a slow start, the Rangers rallied to a 26-18-4 record and the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

New York struggled to score in the postseason, and Nash and Brad Richards were among the biggest offenders. Nash recorded only one goal and five assists in the Rangers' 12 playoff games.

Richards, who has seven years remaining on a nine-year deal, was a bigger disappointment and was a healthy scratch in the final two games against the Bruins. Sather said that move was an organizational decision.

Richards had thrived under Tortorella when they won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, but he managed only one goal and zero assists in his 10 postseason games. Richards also is likely to be gone from the Rangers, who can buy out the remainder of his lucrative deal and remove him from the salary cap that will go down next season.

Tortorella is the career leader in wins by a U.S.-born coach with 410. He was an assistant coach with the Rangers in the 1999-2000 season and took over for John Muckler as head coach for the final four games.

Tortorella was then hired by the Lightning and he was their coach for seven seasons, going 239-222-36-38 and earning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in the championship season.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who are short for their age but otherwise healthy probably don't need extensive blood tests to determine if a disease is stunting their growth, researchers said in a new study.

Of 235 short kids without symptoms who were referred for specialty testing, just three had a possible diagnosis picked up on those labs, and only one diagnosis - for celiac disease - was confirmed, researchers found.

"Most of the screening tests are for diseases you really wouldn't want to miss, but it's rare that any of those diseases (would only) present with short stature," said by Dr. Stephanie Sisley, who led the study.

Guidelines on short stature from endocrinology groups recommend lab screening for very short children, including those who don't have any problems picked up on a physical exam. That screening includes blood tests for thyroid and growth hormones as well as calcium and other nutrients.

But one of the authors of those guidelines agreed that based on the new findings, kids who are short but have no other symptoms probably don't need extensive screening.

Sisley and her colleagues reviewed the medical charts of 1,373 short children who were referred to the endocrinology clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center between 2008 and 2011. Of them, 235 were below the third percentile for height and had a normal check-up and no record of having stopped growing.

A 10-year-old girl who is four feet, one inch tall would fall just below the third percentile, for example, as would a six-year-old boy who is three feet, five inches.

Few of those children underwent all tests recommended by the guidelines; the average kid had about two-thirds of them. One was diagnosed with celiac disease - when the body can't process certain grains - and two others had signs of underlying conditions but didn't finish follow-up tests.

There were 10 false-positive lab results that didn't pan out on further testing.

Altogether, the tests cost $315,321 - or $105,107 per possible diagnosis, the study team reported in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Sisley and her colleagues said their findings show many children are inappropriately referred to specialists for short stature. Rather than looking at a child's height at one point, it's more important to track it over time to see if a kid has stopped growing, they wrote.

"Any patient who really isn't growing should be checked out," Sisley, now at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Reuters Health.

Dr. Alan Rogol, a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, agreed the new findings only apply to those kids who are short but have no record of growth delay.

The kids in this study "had nothing that pointed to difficulty in any system, and many of them were short kids of shorter parents," Rogol, who reviewed the study for the journal, told Reuters Health.

He and Sisley both said those kids should be followed by their pediatrician for at least six months - then referred to a specialist if they really aren't growing, or any time new symptoms show up.

"In this idealized set of kids, the things that pediatricians do best are probably more worthwhile than sending them over to see an endocrinologist or somebody else," Rogol said.

"I think parents are most worried that they're missing something in the kid. It's actually okay to follow the growth of a patient for six months or 12 months to see if something's going on before you do specialized testing," Sisley said.

"Much of the time, if their child is otherwise healthy the bottom line is they're probably going to be fine in the long run."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/16vQeM9 The Journal of Pediatrics, online May 23, 2013.

At 89, Lautenberg was the oldest senatorandserving in that legislative body. He enlisted at 18 and served in the Army Signal Corps in Europe during the war.

Lautenberg served on the Senate committees on Appropriations; Commerce Science and Transportation; and Environment and Public Works. He had struggled with health problems earlier this year and already had announced that he would not run for re-election in 2014.

Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, has the power to appoint someone to fill the vacancy, according to The Bergen Record, which was . Christie is expected to schedule a special election to find a permanent successora decision that is sure to impact what was already considered a heated race to replace the late senator.

On the Democratic side, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Bookerhe would bypass a run for governor against Christie to explore a run for Lautenberg's seat. Reps. Frank Pallone and Rush Holt have also been eying the race. While no Republicans have formally declared, several have been mentioned as possible candidatesincluding state Sens. Thomas Kean Jr., who ran for the seat in 2006, and Joseph Kyrillos, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Sen. Robert Menendez in 2012.

While Christie's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Kean and Kyrillos are already being mentioned as possible GOP appointeesalong with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Christie could also appoint a Democrata move that would likely win raves in the heavily Democratic state as he vies for a second term as governor this November. But it would likely alienate Republicans and put at risk his rumored aspirations of running for president in 2016.

Speaking at a women's conference in Trenton on Monday morning, Christie who advocated passionately for the things he believed inand who sometimes "just fought because he liked to."

"Its no mystery that Sen. Lautenberg and I didnt always agree. In fact, it probably is more honest to say we very often didnt agree, and we had some pretty good fights between us over timebattles on philosophy and the role of government," Christie said. But never was Sen. Lautenberg to be underestimated as an advocate for the causes that he believed in and as an adversary in the political world."

Lautenberg'sincluded writing the law that banned smoking on airplanes, and he later helped craft legislation to ban smoking in all federal buildings. He also played a central role in raising the national drinking age to 21. He also wrote the law that prevents domestic abusers from owning firearms.

Lautenberg was a businessman and commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey before he successfully won New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat in 1982. He served until 2001, when he retired. But he agreed to run again in 2002, when then-Sen. Robert Torricelli, who was seeking re-election, dropped out of the race amid an ethics scandal.

Lautenberg's future in the Senate had been the subject of rumors for months because of his declining health, but that didn't diminish his fighting spirit. Lautenberg railed against Booker for declaring his intention to run for the Senate before he had decided whether to seek another termtelling a reporter that Bookerfor jumping into the race too early.

In a message posted on Twitter Monday, Booker praised Lautenberg as "a true champion" for New Jersey and a "tireless partner who always delivered for the people of Newark." "His legacy will endure for generations," Booker added.

Christie cleared his public schedule for Mondayleading to speculation that he's exploring his options for what to do about the special election. A major question is whether Booker, who has been considered a front-runner for the 2014 election, will be nominated by his party to be on the special election ballot this year, which could be scheduled for Nov. 5, Election Day.

But as the , New Jersey election law on this subject is somewhat murky and could allow Christie to delay the special election until November 2014. The latter could be more appealing to Christie because having a special election on the ballot this year would likely drive up Democratic turnout--which would help his Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono.

"Democrats are definitely going to push to have the election this year because it would drive up turnout for all of their candidates, including those in the state legislature," a New Jersey Democratic strategist, who declined to be named talking about strategy, told Yahoo News. "But this is Christie's deal. He is going to control this."

In the meantime, tributes for Lautenberg poured in from both sides of the political spectrum. In a statement, President Barack Obama praised Lautenberg as a "proud New Jerseyan who lived Americas promise as a citizen, and fought to keep that promise alive as a senator."

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, praised Lautenberg as someone who served the nation "with courage and dignity" and as someone who "tirelessly championed the cause of veterans like him who have sacrificed so much for America."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he could "think of no better example of an American success story than Franks life."

"History will show that Frank is one of the most productive senators in the history of America," Reid said.

Rachel Hartman contributed to this report.

President Xi Jinping's three-day visit starting Tuesday comes as Mexico debates opening its highly regulated energy sector to more foreign investment.

China's president has said he plans to address Mexico's large trade deficit with the Asian power and discuss ways to increase Mexican exports. Analysts say that could mean oil, which Mexico has and China needs to fuel its expanding economy and the cars of its growing middle class.

"Access to strategic raw materials is key to understanding the dynamic of relations with China," said Hugo Beteta, director for Mexico and Central America of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Clearly there is an interest by China in Mexican oil."

The trip is part of a four-country regional tour that ends in the United States. Xi started in Trinidad and Tobago, where he also met with leaders of other Caribbean countries, and he arrives Sunday night in Costa Rica.

China and Trinidad have had diplomatic ties for almost 40 years, and Trinidad is a major trading partner in the Caribbean for China. Costa Rica is the only country in Central America to have diplomatic relations with China.

U.S. trade still dwarfs China's for the three countries Xi is visiting. But China's trade with Costa Rica and with Mexico has tripled since 2006, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Relations with Mexico had been chilly in the past, especially when former President Felipe Calderon hosted the Dalai Lama in 2011, something China's Foreign Ministry said "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and harmed Chinese-Mexican relations."

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has been aggressive so far about changing that, and the two new presidents reportedly hit if off on a personal level when Pena Nieto visited China and met with Xi in April. That resulted in an unusually quick diplomatic follow-up, just two months into Xi's presidency.

During the April talks, Xi said "he is committed to working with Mexican authorities to help Mexico export more," Mexico's vice minister of foreign relations, Carlos de Icaza, told The Associated Press.

That's key for Mexico, because its trade deficit with China is exploding, far surpassing that of any other Latin American nation.

While China is looking to assure supplies of raw materials, Mexico is looking to diversify its trade and investment, which have long been dominated by its superpower neighbor to the north.

"In the new global geopolitical and economic map, China is, and I think it has arrived to stay, the world's second economic power," De Icaza said. Mexico "has to understand and strengthen relations with a nation that has such great strategic value."

De Icaza said the countries hope to sign at least a dozen agreements in the fields of trade, energy, tourism, science and technology during Xi's visit.

Mexican exports to China came to a bit over $5.7 billion in 2012, while its imports from that country stood at almost $57 billion, according to statistics from Mexico's Economy Department. Cell phones, video games and parts for electronics factories have been pouring into Mexico, which sends China minerals such as copper and lead.

Overall trade between China and Latin America has expanded quickly over the past decade and the continent now imports more from China than it does from the European Union, according to the U.N. economic agency for the region.

Many countries balance those imports by sending China raw materials: oil from Venezuela, copper from Chile, soybeans from Argentina. But Mexico's exports go overwhelmingly to the huge U.S. market right on its border.

Beteta noted that China imports three-quarters of the oil it consumes.

"China needs to guarantee oil for its citizens' cars, but also obviously for its economy as a whole, which has a high energy intensity, and Mexico is an oil power," he said.

At the same time, Pena Nieto's government has said that it will soon present an energy reform bill to allow greater national and international investment in its oil sector. It hasn't revealed the details of the initiative, but Beteta said it "has awakened the appetite of many people."

State oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, already has taken small steps to increase its relationship with China, which until recently had been minimal.

Of the roughly 2.5 million barrels of crude that Pemex produces a day, about 1.2 million are exported. Energy ministry figures show that 75 percent of these exports go to the United States and about 7 percent to the "Far East." It does not specify how much each specific country in that region receives.

In April, during Pena Nieto's visit to China, Pemex signed its first long-term contract with a Chinese company, agreeing to ship 30,000 barrels a day to the state oil company Sinopec.

Mexico may have other goods and investment opportunities to offer as well.

"China is the principal consumer of coal, gas, oil, of secondary industries like cement, steel, concrete," said Juan Carlos Rivera, director of the Center for Business with Asia at the private Monterrey Technological Institute. "Evidently (China) is looking to satisfy their market needs."

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said her country is looking for agreements in the areas of clean energy, public transportation and student exchanges after Xi arrives Sunday. The government also wants to give a final push to negotiations for the joint construction of a $1.3 billion refinery on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast.

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Associated Press writer Javier Cordova in San Jose, Costa Rica contributed to this report.