LeBron leads Heat to second straight title

MIAMI (AP) ? LeBron James and the Miami Heat remain atop the NBA, and not even a proud push from the San Antonio Spurs could knock them down.

James led the Heat to their second straight NBA title, scoring 37 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 95-88 victory Thursday night in a tense Game 7 of the NBA Finals that lived up to its billing.

Winning the title they needed to validate the best season in franchise history ? and perhaps the three-superstar system they used to build it ? the Heat won the second straight thriller in the NBA's first championship series to go the distance since 2010.

James continued his unparalled run through the basketball world, with two titles and an Olympic gold medal in the last 12 months.

He made five 3-pointers, defended Tony Parker when he had to, and did everything else that could ever be expected from the best player in the game.

The Heat became the NBA's first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2009-10, and the first team to beat the Spurs in the NBA Finals.

Players and coaches hugged each other after the game, the respect between the franchises that was obvious when the series started becoming even more apparent after two straight classics.

Fans stood, clapped and danced across the final minutes, when every score was answered by another score, each stop followed by a better stop. The Heat pushed their lead to six points a few times midway through the fourth but the Spurs would never be deterred.

The Spurs, so close to a fifth title just two nights earlier, couldn't find a way to grab it in this one, perhaps the last shot Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will ever get together.

They were trying to become the first road team to win a Game 7 on the road since Washington beat Seattle in 1978, but those old guys ran out of gas just before the finish.

Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, but missed a shot and follow attempt right under the basket with about 50 seconds left and the Spurs trailing by two.

James followed with a jumper ? the shot the Spurs were daring him to take earlier in the series ? to make it 92-88, sending San Antonio to a team a timeout as Glenn Frey's "The Heat is on" blared over the arena's sound system.

He then came up with a steal and made two free throws for a six-point lead, and after Ginobili missed, James stalked toward the sideline, knowing it was over and he was the last one standing again.

Dwyane Wade had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who overcame a scoreless Chris Bosh by getting six 3-pointers and 18 points from Shane Battier.

Streamers fell from the arena ceiling onto the white-clad fans for the second year in a row, but this one meant so much more after how close the Heat were to losing it.

They were down 10 in the fourth quarter of Game 6 before James led the charge back, finishing with a triple-double in Miami's 103-100 overtime victory. This one was nearly as tight, neither team leading by more than seven and the game tied 11 times.

Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Spurs, who had been 4 for 4 in the championship round. Manu Ginobili had 18 points but Parker managed just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

The Heat collected the Larry O'Brien again from Commissioner David Stern, presiding over his final NBA Finals before retiring next February.

James avenged his first finals loss, when his Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs on 2007. That helped send James on his way to South Florida, realizing it would take more help to win titles that could never come alone.

He said he would appreciate this one more because of how tough it was. The Heat overpowered Oklahoma City in five games last year, a team of 20-something kids who weren't ready to be champions yet.

This came against a respected group of Spurs whose trio has combined for more than 100 playoff victories together.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebron-leads-heat-second-straight-title-035241582.html

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Danielle Bradbery: Signed to Taylor Swift's Record Label!

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Iranian expectations soar after Rohani's election

As Iranians erupted in celebration over the victory of Hassan Rohani, they knew what they wanted from their president-elect: more social freedoms, a better economy, and less ?resistance? to the rest of the world.

The centrist cleric has promised them as much. But Iranian politics are an unruly tangle in which moderate agendas have often been wrecked by hard-line factions. Will Mr. Rohani be able to bring change without upending the Islamic Republic? Has this regime insider ? who declared in 1999 that student protesters ?would be punished as corrupt on earth who waged war on God? ? learned lessons from those chaotic days and those of the 2009 Green Movement protests? And will he have the mettle to achieve the promised transformation?

?It will be challenging for Rohani to make changes. People need to be more patient; they cannot expect to see immediate results,? says Azadeh, an engineer and mother in central Tehran who asked that only her first name be used. ?It?s not just up to the president. But because he is a strong personality and has a lot of support from influential politicians, he can succeed.?

Rohani was able to defeat the five conservative candidates in a surprise first-round win because of endorsements from two reformist former presidents: Mohammad Khatami, who won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001 on promises of change, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Their support ? and their apparent faith in an electoral process that many Iranians had given up on after the fraud-tainted 2009 vote ? swept Rohani to what he called a ?victory of wisdom and moderation? over extremism, although he remains close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

?People want more freedom and civil rights and economic prosperity,? says a bearded musician in Tehran who plays classical Persian music. ?I think that even with the factions within the establishment, Rohani will be able to fulfill his promises because the [ruling system?s] goal right now is to calm society.?

MIXED RECORD

Even though Rohani took an uncompromising line against pro-democracy protesters in 1999, his own children are believed to have links to the opposition Green Movement activities, as do the offspring of many senior officials.

Rohani never spoke out about the protest and crackdown in 2009, but he says he will work to release Green Movement leaders and former presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest.

?In the suppression of the Green Movement, Rohani did not stand up for protesters,? notes Azadeh. ?Maybe it was his tactic to save face to become a presidential candidate. But let?s see what he does in the future.?

Those events were a learning experience for Rohani and to a degree Mr. Khamenei, reflected in his call just days before the election for those ?who don?t want to back Islamic system? to vote anyway, for the nation.

Rohani has promised a ?civil rights charter? and has spoken frequently about broader political and social rights and less government interference in people?s lives. The conservative establishment has lined up to praise his victory, and police have clearly been ordered not to prevent street celebrations.

?These are signs of wisdom, that they have learned from the previous mistakes,? says an Iranian analyst in Tehran. ?There is this strange capability of the Islamic regime for survival. Under tremendous pressures they get very close to the precipice, and something happens and they turn back ... to avoid very, very big disasters.?

?I don?t think Hassan Rohani is faking it,? says the analyst. ?The question is, will he make it? Will he be allowed ? or will he be able ? to have room enough to do that??

BALANCING ACT

The answer may depend on how Rohani balances competing pressures. He knows many Revolutionary Guard commanders from his role managing the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, but he is also close to figures like Mr. Rafsanjani, who were pilloried by hard-liners for fomenting the 2009 ?sedition? that shook the regime to the core.

?There has always been some apprehension about [Rohani] in the security and intelligence establishment, about his hard-line credentials being insufficient on national security,? says an Iranian political scientist in Washington. ?So he?s going to have some problems with those guys, no matter what.?

His tough approach to the 1999 student uprising came amid fear of ?chaos and a real collapse of the system,? says the academic. ?That position does not necessarily repudiate the overall moderate orientation [today]. The time was different, and of course [Rohani] has grown and changed.?

As for chances of a resurgence of the vigilante groups that were active during the Khatami era, and deployed in the 2009 crackdown?

?There is a growing sense among even hardcore conservatives that those tactics are no longer paying off or could be deployed,? says the political scientist. ?I?m not ruling out the possibility of those vigilantes regrouping and starting again; that depends very much on how Rohani reacts and how Rohani plays the game.?

The Monitor correspondent and sources have been left unnamed for security reasons.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-expectations-soar-rohanis-election-144530559.html

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Ukraine's finance ministry denies "drunk" claims against minister

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's finance ministry denied on Thursday allegations by opposition politicians that a deputy finance minister had been drunk when he spoke to parliament on the budget this week.

Anatoly Myarkovsky, first deputy finance minister, had been suffering from high blood pressure, it said in a statement.

A parliamentary hearing was suspended on Tuesday after opposition deputies denounced Myarkovsky as drunk after he had presented a report on the 2012 budget.

"All the accusations are unjustified and unfounded," it said, adding that doctors had diagnosed him with "arterial hypertension" and he had been treated in hospital.

On Tuesday, Myarkovsky spoke for 10 minutes on the government's budget performance before opposition deputies assailed him with accusations of being inebriated.

Ukraine's parliament, where the Regions party holds a small majority against a boisterous opposition which is seeking the release of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from jail, is often the scene of tussles and even fist-fights among deputies.

(Reporting by Natalya Zinets; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Elizabeth Piper)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-finance-ministry-denies-drunk-claims-against-minister-101446481.html

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Uncle: Patriots player had link to homicide victim

BOSTON (AP) ? New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez had a connection to a homicide victim found in an industrial park near the athlete's home, but family and officials were mum on the nature of their relationship, two days after police first visited the upscale division.

The body found about a mile from Hernandez's sprawling home in North Attleborough was that of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, according to a prosecutor's office. His cause of death wasn't released.

Lloyd was a semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits and had a connection to Hernandez, whose home was searched by police, his family said Wednesday.

Hernandez attorney Michael Fee acknowledged media reports about the state police search of Hernandez's home as part of an investigation but said he and the player wouldn't have any comment on it.

"My son is a wonderful child," said, Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, as she cried outside the family home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. "He's a family guy. He hasn't done anything to hurt anyone."

Ward would not say how Lloyd knew Hernandez and did not say if police told her how her son died. An uncle said Lloyd had a connection to Hernandez but wouldn't elaborate.

North Attleborough sits on the Rhode Island state line not far from the Patriots' stadium in Foxborough. They referred questions about the investigation to the office of Bristol District Attorney Samuel Sutter.

Sutter's office said investigators were asking for the public's help to find a silver mirror cover believed to have broken off a car between Boston and North Attleborough.

Sports Illustrated, citing an unidentified source, reported Tuesday that Hernandez was not believed to be a suspect in what was being treated then as a possible homicide.

Two troopers knocked on the door of Hernandez's house Wednesday morning, but no one answered. The night before, police spent hours there as another group of officers searched the industrial park.

Later Wednesday, at least seven state troopers searched both sides of a road just off the street where Hernandez lives. The officers used thin poles to pull back plants and search through undergrowth along the road.

Hernandez returned home during the early afternoon Wednesday. He did not speak to a crowd of reporters staked out about 100 feet away.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez out of Florida in 2010. Since then, he has combined with Rob Gronkowski to form one of the top tight end duos in the NFL. He missed 10 games last season with an ankle injury and had shoulder surgery in April but is expected to be ready for training camp. Last summer, the Patriots gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the team did not anticipate commenting publicly during the police investigation.

Sports Illustrated reported that the link between Hernandez and the case was a rented Chevrolet Suburban with Rhode Island plates that police had been searching for. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the report.

Lloyd's neighbor Larry Connors said a black Suburban with Rhode Island license plates was towed out of the yard of Lloyd's house after his body was found. Lloyd had been driving it for a few days, but Connors had never seen it before that.

Neighbor Paul Sandefur, a retired transit police officer, said he had known Lloyd since he was in diapers and was at a loss to explain what might have led to his death.

"He'd tease me about coming over to play basketball because I used to tell all the kids I could beat them," Sandefur said. "He was an exceptional kid. It's just inconceivable that something would happen to him."

Both neighbors thought Lloyd worked in construction, and neither knew of any connection between him and Hernandez.

Bandits coach Olivier Bustin, who last saw Lloyd on Saturday at a team scrimmage and heard on Tuesday he had been killed, said he never knew him to be in trouble.

"He was a personable guy, just a guy who was well-liked by everybody on the team," said the coach, who said Lloyd didn't start but played a big role on defense.

Lloyd's sister, Olivia Thibou, said her brother always had her back.

"And, you know, it's just tough that he's not here," she said. "As my mom said, just give us our time to grieve. And I hope that they find out who did it."

___

Niedowski reported from North Attleborough. Associated Press reporters Mark Pratt and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uncle-patriots-player-had-homicide-victim-061316549.html

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NRA to meet in Texas after blocking gun control in Congress

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of National Rifle Association members gather in Houston this weekend for the first time since the Senate rejected a plan last month to expand background checks for gun buyers, but officials say attendees will not sit back to celebrate victory.

"We view it as an opening battle in what will be a multi-year war," said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA, which lobbied against the proposal. "We're definitely not resting on our laurels."

Polls show more than 80 percent of Americans support expanded background checks, but the proposal to extend background checks for sales made online and at gun shows fell six votes shy on April 17 of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate.

The proposal, which supporters have vowed to revive, is a key part of President Barack Obama's gun-control effort sparked by the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The vote was a sign of the influence of the gun lobby, particularly the NRA, which spent $18.6 million in the 2012 campaign cycle, according to the Sunlight Foundation. The NRA has more than 4 million members.

The NRA gathering in the nation's fourth-largest city, which starts Friday and continues through Sunday, is billed as a celebration of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution setting out the right to bear arms.

The event is expected to draw some 70,000 attendees who can stroll 400,000 square feet of displays to see the latest products from firearm manufacturers and hunting outfitters, check out wildlife art and shooting accessories, or sign up for hunting trips around the world. It will also draw protesters who plan to demonstrate for more gun-control measures such as background checks.

There will also be a Stand and Fight Rally with political commentator Glenn Beck, a country music jam featuring the Eli Young Band, and remarks from leading gun rights advocates including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Since last year's NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in St. Louis, Missouri, a national debate about gun laws sprang up after the December shooting at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults were killed. In the months that followed, states including Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland and New York have passed gun-control laws, while states such as Arkansas, Wyoming and South Dakota have loosened gun restrictions.

"Almost from the moment of the tragedy in Newtown, it became apparent that the ensuing push for a wide variety of new anti-gun laws had a lot less to do with school safety than it did with a decades-long crusade to destroy the Second Amendment," NRA chief executive officer Wayne LaPierre wrote in an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle published in advance of the national gathering.

NRA members proposed solutions such as fixing the mental health system, putting armed guards into schools and enforcing existing federal laws against drug dealers and gang members with guns, LaPierre wrote.

"NRA members exemplify everything that's good and right about America," he wrote.

Those members will be warmly welcomed by leaders in Texas, including Perry and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, both Republicans.

On Wednesday, Perry celebrated the recent move from California to Texas of a company called Shield Tactical, which sells firearm-related gear and training services. Perry's office said the governor has reached out to more than 30 firearms manufacturers in states that are considering curbing guns sales or manufacturing, urging them to move to Texas.

The NRA's opponents are also gearing up for the Houston event. The local chapter of a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America plans to demonstrate in support of background-check legislation. Military veterans who disagree with NRA positions on guns plan an "Occupy the NRA" event.

"The NRA leadership actively worked to block background checks for gun sales, spreading lies about the Senate bill," Lauren Weiner, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Americans United for Change, told reporters on Thursday. "The reality is that the majority of gun owners do, in fact, support these common-sense reforms."

An online Reuters/Ipsos poll released in January showed that 86 percent of Americans surveyed favored expanded background checks of all gun buyers. A CBS News/New York Times poll released on Wednesday showed that 88 percent of Americans support background checks for all gun buyers and that 59 percent are disappointed or angry about the recent Senate vote on gun legislation.

State Representative Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat whose district includes the convention center hosting the NRA meeting, will not be among the Texas politicians at the event.

"Clearly, the sales and promotion of firearms is big business," Coleman said. "This is business with politics as the cloak."

(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nra-meet-texas-blocking-gun-control-congress-181434598.html

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?In The Studio,? Sutter Hill's Sam Pullara Carves His Own Path From Technologist To Venture Capitalist

Those who know in the Valley know the name Sam Pullara. Whether it was his time as a repeat entrepreneur and technical founder, or stints as an EIR at some of the Valley's most premier venture capital firms, or his time as a lead technologist at two of the largest tech companies in the Valley (most recently at Twitter), Pullara has occupied nearly every seat at the table throughout his career. Now, after leaving Twitter and after years of being an angel investor, Pullara has moved himself and his blog, Java Rants, over to the venture capital side as a Managing Director?of Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, a firm which started back in the early 1960s and has focused on investing in SaaS, infrastructure, and other fundamental technologies.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BFhJikflw-c/

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