In appealing the ruling, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available.

A day earlier, the Food and Drug Administration lowered the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 younger than the current limit of 17 and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.

That decision appeared to fly in the face of a judge's decision last month that women of any age should be allowed to buy both Plan B and its cheaper generic competition as easily as they can buy aspirin. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York gave the FDA 30 days to comply, and the Monday deadline was approaching fast, prompting the administration on Wednesday to ask the court to put the ruling on hold while it reconsiders.

With the appeal, the Obama administration is making clear that it's willing to ease access to emergency contraception only a certain amount not nearly as broadly as doctors' groups and contraception advocates have urged. Still, the FDA decision moving the pill from behind the counter to drugstore shelves reflected a societal shift in the long battle over women's reproductive rights, marking a major milestone for those who believe all forms of birth control should be easy to buy.

Reluctant to get drawn in to a messy second-term spat over social issues, White House officials insisted Wednesday that both the FDA and the Justice Department were acting independently of the White House in deciding how to proceed. But the decision to appeal was certain to irk abortion-rights advocates who say they can't understand why a Democratic president is siding with social conservatives in favor of limiting women's reproductive choices.

"We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women's reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit that prompted Korman's ruling.

Current and former White House aides said Obama's approach to the issue has been heavily influenced by his experience as the father of two school-age daughters. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have also questioned whether there's enough data available to show the morning-after pill is safe and appropriate for younger girls, even though physicians groups insist that it is.

In Wednesday's filing, the Justice Department said Korman exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while that appeal is under way, meaning only Plan B One-Step would appear on drugstore shelves until the case is finally settled. If Korman's order isn't suspended during the appeals process, the result would be "substantial market confusion, harming FDA's and the public's interest" as drugstores receive conflicting orders about who's allowed to buy what, the Justice Department concluded.

Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception. The court cannot overturn the rules and processes that federal agencies must follow "by instead mandating a particular substantive outcome," the appeal states.

The FDA actually had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over the counter in late 2011, when Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 were physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

Sebelius' move was unprecedented, and Korman had blasted it as election-year politics meaning he was overruling not just a government agency but a Cabinet secretary.

More than a year later, neither side in the contraception debate was happy with the FDA's surprise twist, which many perceived as an attempt to find a palatable middle ground between imposing an age limit of 17 and imposing no limit at all.

Any over-the-counter access marks a long-awaited change, but it's not enough, said Dr. Cora Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports nonprescription sale of the morning-after pill for all ages.

"We still have the major issue, which is our teen pregnancy rate is still too high," Breuner said.

Even though few young girls likely would use Plan B, which costs about $50 for a single pill, "we know that it is safe for those under 15," she said.

Most 17- to 19-year-olds are sexually active, and 30 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex, according to a study published last month by the journal Pediatrics. Sex is much rarer among younger teens. Likewise, older teens have a higher pregnancy rate, but that study also counted more than 110,000 pregnancies among 15- and 16-year-olds in 2008 alone.

Contraception advocates see a double standard. No one is carded when buying a condom, but under the FDA's decision they would have to prove their age when buying a pill to prevent pregnancy if that condom breaks.

"This isn't a compromise. This is wrong," said Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network.

Social conservatives were outraged by the FDA's move to lower the age limits for Plan B as well as the possibility that Korman's ruling might take effect and lift age restrictions altogether.

"This decision undermines the right of parents to make important health decisions for their young daughters," said Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.

Obama aides bristled at the suggestion that the FDA decision was an attempt at political compromise, insisting the FDA merely responded to an application filed by Plan B's manufacturer. At the same time, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's concern had been about girls younger than 15 having access, suggesting an age limit of 15 might be acceptable.

If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists and Korman, in his ruling said has been discredited.

___

Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" led comedy winners at the Critics Choice television awards on Monday, while AMC series "Breaking Bad" and HBO's fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" won top prizes for drama, edging out "Mad Men" and "Homeland".

HBO film "Behind the Candelabra" won best mini-series or movie, and Michael Douglas's turn as the camp and complex Liberace won the best actor in a mini-series or movie prize.

"The Big Bang Theory", about a group of nerdy scientists, was an early winner on the night, with co-stars Kaley Cuoco and Simon Helberg also winning best comedy supporting actor awards.

Cuoco's win was tied with Eden Sher of ABC family comedy "The Middle".

"The Big Bang Theory", in its sixth season beat "Louis", "New Girl", "Veep", "The Middle" and "Parks and Recreation".

"Game of Thrones", a medieval fantasy war epic, and "Breaking Bad", about a chemistry teacher-turned-drug king, tied for the Best Drama Series prize.

"Breaking Bad" lead star Bryan Cranston won Best Actor in a Drama Series for the second year running, thanking the critics, saying "if you were not a conduit, we would not be anywhere".

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of HBO's political comedy "Veep", won best comedy series actress, while Louis C.K. of FX's "Louie" picked up best comedy series actor for the second year running.

"I've spent my entire career making sure to ignore what critics say and what critics write. Tonight that strategy has changed," Louis-Dreyfuss quipped as she accepted her award.

Last year's big drama winner, "Homeland", lost in all three of its categories. "Mad Men" also failed to win the one category it was nominated in, best drama actress for Elisabeth Moss.

One of the big surprises of the night came from little-known Tatiana Maslany from BBC America drama "Orphan Black", in which she plays a woman with several identities. She won best drama actress, beating last year's "Homeland" winner Claire Danes.

Winners of the third annual Critics Choice Television Awards were chosen by members of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, and handed out at a gala dinner in Beverly Hills, hosted by "Parks and Recreation" actress Retta.

Moss, best known for her role as Peggy Olson in "Mad Men," won best actress in a mini-series or movie for her role as a New Zealand detective in Sundance Channel's "Top of The Lake".

The award was her first accolade for acting, she said in her acceptance speech.

FX's psychological horror mini-series "American Horror Story: Asylum", with six nominations, came away with two wins for its stars Sarah Paulson and Zachary Quinto.

Hollywood comedian Bob Newhart was recognized with the Critics Choice Television Icon award, with actor Henry Winkler, best known as The Fonz in "Happy Days", paying homage to Newhart's long-running career in television.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

The sun's magnetic field caused the tail of to wiggle in strange ways during the icy wanderer's suicidal plunge through the solar atmosphere in December 2011, researchers have found, suggesting that the close approaches of such "sungrazer comets" can help astronomers better understand Earth's star.

"I liken Lovejoy and these other comets to sort of naturally occurring celestial explorers, in that they're going there for us and, in a way, returning data that we can use in a complementary way," said study lead author Cooper Downs of Predictive Science Inc. in San Diego. []

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Punches replaced pitches at that point as a heated brawl involving players and coaches ensued, resulting in six ejections before the Dodgers rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Kennedy, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and coach Turner Ward, along with Puig, reliever Ronald Belisario and Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire were ejected in the seventh inning after the prolonged scuffle against a railing that nearly spilled into the stands.

"There were four of us and what, 60 of them?" crew chief Brian Gorman told a pool reporter after the game.

In the top of the seventh, Greinke hit Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero in the back drawing a warning from the umpire and both teams came charging onto the field, but the scrum broke up quickly with no punches thrown.

"Puig gets hit in the face, Montero gets hit, it should have been really over at this point," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

Greinke hitting Montero was payback for Kennedy hitting Puig in bottom of the sixth the ball deflected off Puig's shoulder and grazed his nose. It wasn't broken and he didn't sustain a concussion, the team said. Puig didn't appear at his locker after the game to talk with reporters.

"If you can't pitch inside without hitting someone in the head, you shouldn't pitch inside," Mattingly said.

Kennedy said he was just trying to pitch inside to Puig, who came into the game batting .500.

"I thought I got him on the shoulder, but by his reaction, I figure I got him somewhere in the face," he said. "I definitely did not want to hit a guy with two strikes and put somebody like him on base."

Kennedy then hit Greinke in the upper left shoulder the ball deflected off his helmet with one out in the seventh and the game tied 2-all. It was the 41st batter Kennedy has hit since the start of 2010.

"I honestly had no idea that it was that high until I saw the replay," Kennedy said.

Mattingly believed otherwise, using an expletive to express his disagreement.

After the game, Greinke said he didn't want to discuss the brawl.

"That's when it kind of got out of hand," Tim Federowicz said about Greinke getting hit. "You can't do that."

Kennedy immediately was tossed and calmly walked toward the Diamondbacks dugout before players poured onto the field and relievers ran in from the bullpens.

"Everything happened so fast," Mattingly said. "It just gets a little crazy out there."

Belisario began throwing punches and a shouting Puig rushed into the melee.

"I was out of my mind just trying to protect my teammates," Belisario said. "If you want to hit somebody, don't hit a pitcher. Don't hit guys in the head. That's crazy."

Third base umpire Larry Vanover said Puig and McGwire were ejected for "instigating," while Belisario was deemed to be "out of control."

"That doesn't mean that other people won't get fined," Gorman said. "The league will look at video."

Ward got slammed against a railing and was put in a headlock by Dodgers left fielder Skip Schumaker, who appeared to be trying to break up the fight as both teams kept pushing closer to the stands.

"I've never seen a pitcher throw at two guys' heads before," Schumaker said. "It's dangerous."

Ward seemed to getting pummeled, but Gorman said he was tossed for being aggressive in the fight.

"It's hard not to, when they go after you," the umpire said. "Pushing and shoving, when it gets over by the dugout in the fan's area, it gets kind of dangerous. You have the railing there. You can't go anywhere when you get pushed up against the railing."

Several star players of another generation were right in the middle of it.

McGwire had Gibson's jersey and windbreaker with both hands and was screaming at him.

"I know they're mad. They thought we hit Puig, but certainly we didn't," Gibson said. "The guy hits everything out over the plate. But the ball got away from Ian and got inside. It's as simple as that. I didn't order anything. It's certainly not what Ian wanted to do."

Mattingly had to be restrained as he tried to get at Gibson, then they exchanged words briefly. McGwire and third base coach Matt Williams grabbed each other's shirts in a tense standoff and shouted at each other.

"Donnie was mad and I'm sure they'll accept no culpability," Gibson said.

Montero, still in full catching gear, ended up on the ground next to Ward.

"It got pretty ugly," Montero said. "They came out of nowhere, just throwing punches. When everybody was trying to break it up, they just kept coming and throwing punches. It was like 25 against 72, because all the DL guys were out there, too. I guess their arms were feeling pretty good because they were throwing good punches."

When play resumed, Greinke took his spot at first base and made a hard slide into second base when Schumaker, the next batter, grounded into a fielder's choice.

Greinke had spent more than a month on the disabled list after breaking his collarbone in a brawl with San Diego's Carlos Quentin, who charged the mound after being hit with a pitch on April 11.

Federowicz hit a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth inning after David Hernandez (3-2) walked the bases loaded.

After Puig got hit, Andre Ethier followed with a two-run homer off Kennedy that tied the game 2-all.

Willie Bloomquist's RBI single in the eighth gave Arizona a 3-2 lead.

Matt Guerrier (2-2) got the win and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth to earn his third save.

NOTES: The Dodgers placed OF Scott Van Slyke on the 15-day DL with left shoulder bursitis and optioned INF Justin Sellers to Triple-A Albuquerque. The team recalled OF Alex Castellanos and RHP Chris Withrow from Albuquerque

PARIS, June 8 (Reuters) - David Ferrer is used to wearing the "best of the rest" label when it comes to Spanish claycourters, but on Sunday against Rafa Nadal the 31-year-old has the chance to add his name to the pantheon of greats.

The Valencia-based player has reached the French Open final without dropping a set, and on Friday produced a ruthless display of power and accuracy to torment French hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

It was a magnificent performance to end a sequence of five defeats in his five previous grand slam semi-finals, yet once again Ferrer was left in the shade by Nadal's extraordinary five-set semi-final thriller over Novak Djokovic.

For many that match was "le final" in all but name, but Nadal has too much respect for Ferrer - a player who shares his work ethic - to relax as he aims to become the first man to win the same grand slam tournament eight times.

"He didn't lose a set during the whole tournament, so he's a player that brings you to the limit," 11-times major winner Nadal - who was an unknown 15-year-old when Ferrer began his professional career in 2000 - told reporters on Saturday.

"He's a player that if you are not playing perfect, you will be in big, big trouble."

The statistics do not look good for Ferrer, although he will take some heart from the fact that the last time two Spaniards met in the French Open final, in 2002, Albert Costa was the underdog but defeated Carlos Moya in four sets.

Ferrer won his first claycourt clash with Nadal in 2004. Since then he has lost 16 in a row on the surface.

Add the facts that Nadal has suffered one defeat in 59 matches at Roland Garros, has never lost any of his 13 finals against Spaniards, and is just five behind Argentine Guillermo Vilas's record of 46 career claycourt titles, and the odds are stacked against fourth-seed Ferrer.

Ferrer has arguably been unlucky in that his career has spanned an era containing some of the greatest players in the sport's history. More often than not in recent years the only players he loses to at grand slams are the top four of Djokovic, Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer.

INTO SUBMISSION

He is not one to complain, though.

Instead he rolls up his sleeves and gets down to the business of winning tennis matches with the minimum of fuss, hustling and bustling behind the baseline and grinding most foes into submission.

Ferrer is one of the quickest players on the tour but he has other weapons, too.

He is accurate from the baseline with his economical groundstrokes off both flanks and can surprise opponents with well-disguised drop shots and an effective net game.

Ferrer's serve does not have the beef to win many cheap points, though his variety of placement allows him to set up points and dominate from the middle of the court with angled forehand and backhands.

"Any person who doesn't respect David as one of the greatest players of the world - and not for one year, for a long time - is a person that doesn't know anything about tennis," Nadal said when asked if Ferrer gets the respect he is due.

"When I read a few things about the semi-finals, Tsonga against David, people were saying was a good semi-final for Tsonga. I never felt that way. You play best of five on clay against David, it's very, very tough."

Ferrer, the third-oldest debut grand slam finalist, often talks reverentially about Nadal, and is happy to be mentioned in the same conversation.

Camaraderie will be interrupted on Sunday, though, as Ferrer attempts to capitalise on what might be his one and only chance of joining the grand slam winners' club.

"It's the opportunity of my life to be in the final," Ferrer, who has managed it in his 42nd grand slam tournament, said.

"Defeating Rafa is very difficult on any surface; it's even worse on clay. But once again, I'm going to try to play a beautiful match."

(Editing by Stephen Wood)

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - All but diehard fans of international soccer could be forgiven for not knowing, much less caring, about the Confederations Cup, a two-week tournament that kicks off in Brazil on Saturday.

For 200 million Brazilians, though, the competition is the first in a series of big events that will say a lot about their country, their first-world ambitions and the government's ability, amid fading confidence in Latin America's biggest economy, to deliver on the promise of a Brazil transformed.

The Confederations Cup, an eight-team competition, will serve as a dress rehearsal for two far bigger shows on Brazilian soil - the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

When it won rights to host those events, Brazil was on a tear. They were supposed to showcase a country that in the century's first decade channeled booming export revenue, soaring consumer demand and ambitious social programs into economic growth that catapulted over 30 million people out of poverty.

But now, at showtime, Brazil has lost its luster.

Economic stagnation, rising inflation and a spike in the sorts of violent crimes that were supposed to recede with prosperity are reviving questions, asked here for decades, about how far Brazil has actually traveled on the difficult path from emerging nation into the ranks of developed countries.

As the Confederations Cup gets going, in six of the dozen cities that will host the World Cup, many Brazilians fear visitors will see anything but a country in full bloom.

"We've been eating baloney and burping caviar," says Juca Kfouri, a prominent sportswriter and commentator, using a local expression for pretense outpacing reality. "These events are now upon us and this is the same old Brazil."

Sports fans, the government says, can rest assured.

Naysayers, after all, routinely predict disaster before every major sporting event, be it here or in the world's richest countries. They quibble over everything from Olympic mascots to the design of the World Cup ball.

And the show, invariably, proceeds.

"We have no fears of not being ready," Aldo Rebelo, Brazil's sports minister, said this week, citing ongoing work to finish remaining World Cup venues by a December deadline and expand crowded airport terminals in time to welcome visitors.

LOST OPPORTUNITY

Still, critics are outraged by cost overruns, construction delays, a perceived lack of transparency and quickly rising prices for tickets and tourism related to the events.

Work at the Maracan, the Rio stadium that for half a century was one of the temples of global soccer, took so long that it will host Confederations Cup games with its exterior and much of the surrounding area still a construction site.

Then there's the questionable practicality of new stadiums in far-flung cities, including the farm hub of Cuiaba and the Amazonian capital of Manaus, that don't even have top-tier soccer teams let alone a place on the concert circuit organizers say will ensure they don't morph into white elephants.

In a recent report, the Federal Accounts Tribunal, an agency that probes public spending, calculated that World Cup costs have already exceeded an initial budget of about 24 billion reais ($11.2 billion) by at least 15 percent.

Organizers for the Olympics, to be held in and around Rio, haven't even disclosed an official budget, though they concede it will cost far more than the 29 billion reais estimated when Rio bid for the games.

What bothers many the most is that Brazil, despite lofty ambitions early on, gave up on many of the grand designs it proposed for the big events - from a bullet train between Sao Paulo and Rio to rapid transit systems in smaller cities.

Romario, the superstar striker who won the 1994 World Cup with Brazil and is now a legislator in Congress, has taken to the assembly floor to decry squandered time and resources.

"Brazilians will be disappointed to have lost yet another good opportunity to make this country a better place to live," he predicted recently.

UNDERMINED CONFIDENCE

The assessment comes as a spate of bad news undermines much of the confidence that Brazil had just a few years ago.

After posting economic growth of 7.5 percent as recently as 2010, the country last year grew by just 0.9 percent. A worsening outlook for 2013, combined with rising inflation and a deterioration of public finances, last week led ratings agency Standard & Poor's to warn it could downgrade Brazil's debt.

The woes caused President Dilma Rousseff, who has enjoyed high approval ratings since she took office in 2011, to slip in two recent polls. Meanwhile, a series of high-profile rapes and assaults in Rio and Sao Paulo, where violent crimes have spiked by more than 10 percent in three years, is prompting citizens to wonder whether security is slipping, too.

Yet Brazil is unlikely to don a dour face for visitors.

The government recently launched an advertising campaign that asked Brazilians to flaunt their diversity, creativity and hospitality and "show what it means to be Brazilian".

Globo, the dominant TV network, has run a series of spots during a weekly news show illustrating problems that foreigners face when they arrive - from confusing signs at airports to limited foreign language skills among Brazilians to aggressive street vendors who swarm them at popular tourist attractions.

As it lays out the welcome mat, some fear Brazil is slamming the door on itself.

High demand for hotel rooms and airline seats means many locals can't afford to travel during the events. And the need to recoup costly stadium investments means high ticket prices that exclude workaday soccer fans from enjoying the national sport.

After the re-inauguration of the Maracan earlier this month, many longtime visitors remarked on the homogenous, mostly white, audience and a staid public compared with the raucous crowds of games past.

Tosto, a legendary forward who is now a columnist for the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, after the game lamented "the elitization of soccer across Brazil".

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Dale Hudson)

MIAMI (Reuters) - To his supporters, Trayvon Martin was a typical teenager: flawed yet full of promise, a boy on the verge of becoming a man with dreams of piloting planes. If he differed from his peers it was because he embraced public displays of affection from his parents.

To defenders of the man who killed him, Martin was a gun-loving fight enthusiast with a marijuana habit, a representative of the dark side of the "gangsta" culture popularized by hip-hop music and urban crime mythology.

For all the attention paid to a homicide that captivated the United States for much of 2012, those competing narratives still cloud much of the public's understanding of Martin, who was three weeks past his 17th birthday when he was shot dead by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012.

"We never said he was an angel, but he was ours," said Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, a bureaucrat for Miami's housing authority who was thrust into the media spotlight by her son's death. "Trayvon had his ups and downs, his good days and bad days like every teenager."

Zimmerman, 29, was due to go on trial for second-degree homicide on Monday, when jury selection was set to begin. He has pleaded not guilty, contending he acted in self defense during their confrontation in a gated community in the central Florida town of Sanford.

The case inspired national debates on race and guns and the law. Celebrities tweeted and demonstrators marched around the United States in protest when police initially declined to arrest Zimmerman, saying he acted in self-defense. President Barack Obama sympathized with the victim, seeming to acknowledge racial profiling in America when he said, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

The controversy forced the police chief to step down, the chief prosecutor to remove himself from the case, and the governor to appoint a special prosecutor who brought the murder charge against Zimmerman.

In the face of such a maelstrom, Zimmerman's defense lawyers argued that Martin's character was relevant to their case. So far, the judge presiding over the case has resisted admitting such arguments.

"We have a lot of evidence that marijuana use had something to do with the event," Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, told a pre-trial hearing late last month. An autopsy revealed marijuana in Martin's system.

Supporters of Zimmerman say he has been unfairly tainted as racist, noting the neighborhood was on heightened alert after a series of break-ins in the community.

Zimmerman's lawyers argue Martin's family has tried to present a "totally inaccurate" picture of the boy, hiding a darker side of his interest in drugs, guns and fights.

"From the defense perspective it's extremely important because of their proposition that Zimmerman was defending himself and that Trayvon was an aggressor," said David Weinstein, a Miami lawyer and former state prosecutor.

"On the prosecution side you want to downplay that and keep Trayvon's character from being a central theme," he added.

The judge ruled at a pre-trial hearing last month that photos and texts from Martin's cellphone and social media posts, as well as his suspension from school for suspected marijuana use, cannot be mentioned in opening arguments.

Martin's parents have argued from the start their son was an innocent victim who was stalked by Zimmerman while walking back to the gated community near Orlando with candy and soft drinks he had bought at a convenience store.

They accuse Zimmerman of being a vigilante, whose decision to pursue their son provoked the struggle that resulted in Martin's death.

As long as the prosecution stays close to the narrative of what happened that night, lawyers say it will be tough for the defense to bring up any possible negative baggage in the dead boy's past.

Martin's parents say they are not the least bit worried should his character be brought up at trial.

"You can't condemn every teenager that has been suspended from school because you would be throwing rocks at a lot of kids," said Martin's mother, Fulton, 47. She is on a leave of absence from her Miami Dade county housing job until the trial is over.

A CAREER IN AVIATION

Martin's parents say his suspension and marijuana use were rare blemishes. Martin, who had no criminal record, was eagerly exploring many typical teenage pursuits - sports, music, roller skating and the movies - and was interested in pursuing a career related to aviation, they said.

"He was at that age that he thought there was nothing he couldn't do," his mother said.

Martin would have graduated high school this month.

For two summers in middle school he juggled his passion for American football with attending a science and math summer camp led by Barrington Irving, a Miami pilot and educator who in 2007 at age 23 became the youngest person - and the first African American - to fly solo around the world.

Irving said Martin was most interested in the mechanical side of aviation, building and fixing aircraft, but also took to the air with Irving.

"He kind of reminded me of myself a little bit as it relates to his love of football and then going into aviation," the aviator said. "He actually showed his commitment, going to a summer program and then going to football practice."

Martin was introduced to aviation by his uncle, Ronald Fulton, who had been studying to be an aviation mechanic when a car accident in 2001 left him a paraplegic.

"If something would break he would always find a way to make it work," the uncle said.

Martin's school friends said he was known by the nicknames 'Slimm' and 'So Skinny' due to his narrow frame and baggy clothes. They described him as a popular kid who steered clear of trouble.

"I knew who to avoid, who the bad kids were, and Trayvon was definitely not one of them," said Malcolm Hawkins, 16.

The judge has blocked efforts by the defense to obtain Martin's school records, but his friends and teachers say he was a good student with a special interest in science.

The week before his death, Martin was suspended from school after a baggie containing traces of marijuana was found in his book bag. His mother sent him to his father's house.

"That was his punishment. He had to tell Daddy what he did," said his uncle, Ronald Fulton, who wears a black wrist band that reads 'Justice 4 Trayvon'.

Martin's misbehavior was typical "teen stuff," he said. "He was just trying to be hip, slick and cool, trying to fit is what he was doing. It's all part of growing up."

(Additional reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Editing by Arlene Getz, Daniel Trotta and Richard Chang)

The good news is the sediments scoured from the land by glaciers eventually ends up dumped offshore, in the ocean. Scientists can extract the layers of mud and rock fromcores to look at long-term changes in the size of glaciers, and how they relate to climate.

Right now, the ocean drilling ship JOIDES Resolution is sailing to the Gulf of Alaska to collect sediment from five locations near . Researchers plan to examine not only the link between glaciers and climate change, but also how the buzzsawlike effect of glacial erosion can alter the appearance of mountain ranges.

"New insights intothese processes will help scientists better understand climate history and change, and how mountain landscapes form," Jamie Allan, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, said in a statement.

Studies suggest that glaciers can remove rock so rapidly that they give mountains a boost, letting rocks rise up like a bobbing cork. The mountains of southern Alaska have the perfect combination of large glaciers and rapidly uplifting mountains to test this idea, expedition co-chief scientist John Jaeger, of the University of Florida, said in the statement.

The researchers also plan to look at the advance and retreat of Alaska's glaciers, how sediments are transported from the mountains to the sea and the record of Earth's magnetic field reversals recorded in the Gulf of Alaska.

The ship set sail on May 29 and can be tracked online at .

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I have no idea how to approach him, or if I even should. I wouldn't know how to begin the conversation with him because I have no solid proof. I always considered him to be a decent individual, but in the back of my mind now I'm thinking, "He's cheating on his wife!" What makes me uneasy is that it's all based on my hunch. I'm usually pretty good with my hunches, though.

Any words of wisdom would be welcome. -- NICK IN NEW ENGLAND

DEAR NICK: What are you doing going through your friend's cellphone day planner and reading his texts? He doesn't have to account to you for his time. For all you know the man may be in a 12-step program or a therapy group. If he wanted you to know what he's doing, he would tell you. Right now the "friendliest" thing you can do is mind your own business.

DEAR ABBY: I have worked at my job almost 10 years. Most of the owners are nice, and the staff is great. I like my job most days.

I had a really bad week recently. I felt like I couldn't do anything right. The week ended with a really angry text from my boss. He was right. I was in the wrong, and I apologized. He sent me another text, still angry, and my whole weekend was ruined by it. I kept thinking how mad he was, and how in a few days, I'd start my week in the doghouse.

I can't figure out how not to take work home with me. Also, I can't help but think he was wrong using a text as a means of discussing the issue. I don't want to make him angrier. How do I confront this issue? -- STILL UPSET IN OREGON

DEAR STILL UPSET: It would have been much better management if your boss had talked with you face to face about what was wrong with your performance. By now, your boss should have cooled off, and I suggest that you have a private chat with him and say that if he has a bone to pick with you, you would prefer to hear it from his lips rather than have it communicated in a text, which was hurtful.

DEAR ABBY: After my best friend of more than 20 years, I'll call him Tim, told me his wife had cheated on him, I confessed that I am in love with him. His response floored me. Tim announced that he has been in love with me all this time and can imagine growing old with only me.

A friend told me I'm committing adultery with Tim because he is now in the process of leaving his cheating wife for me. Am I? We haven't been intimate, nor do we plan to sleep with each other until the divorce is final.

I have loved Tim far longer than she has been in the picture, and I feel this is a chance for happiness that fate has offered us and we are meant to grow old together. Are we wrong to pursue a relationship? -- CONFLICTED IN CALIFORNIA

DEAR CONFLICTED: If Tim has been in love with you all these years, he couldn't have had much of a marriage. His wife's infidelity was his "get out of jail" ticket and he took it. I don't know what your "friend's" definition of adultery is, but according to Webster's dictionary, you're not committing it.

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