Danny Puff

SYDNEY (AP) An Australian film about a woman in need benefiting from the kindness of others won top honors at the world's biggest short-film festival.

"We've All Been There" director Nicholas Clifford received the Tropfest first-place award Sunday from judging panelist and "Avatar" actor Sam Worthington.

Worthington earlier said, "It's not about budget, it's not about box office, it's about pure entertainment and that to me is what film should be about. Not all that other junk."

Clifford joked later that he gets grief about resembling Worthington, so their meeting "is going to give everyone a bit more ammunition to throw at me."

His film's star, Laura Wheelright, was named best actress while Nick Hamilton was named best actor for the time-travel tale, "Time."

For his first-place win, Clifford gets $10,000 cash, a trip to Los Angeles to meet with film executives and other prizes.

The outdoor film festival held since 1993 has grown to a large-scale event attracting thousands to a park near Sydney's central business district.

The next Tropfest will be Dec. 8 in Centennial Park an advanced date and new location to accommodate larger crowds and to attract fans and VIP attendees without having to compete for attention with the Oscars and other international events in February.

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HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) Mindy McCready, who hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career, died Sunday after she apparently shot herself. She was 37.

A news release from the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office says that McCready, 37, was found dead Sunday afternoon with what appears to be a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Deputies were sent to a home around 4 p.m. and found her body on the front porch. An autopsy is pending.

Coroner Waren Olmstead said he didn't have further information on who was taking care of her two sons.

She arrived in Nashville in 1994 with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records.

In 1996, her "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1 and its dig at male chauvinism endeared her to females. Her other hits included "Ten Thousand Angels," also in 1996, and her album by that title sold 2 million copies.

However, personal problems plagued her beginning in 2004 and included a custody battle with her mother over one of her sons.

McCready took her older son Zander from her mother and the boy's legal guardian, Gayle Inge, in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas without permission over what she called child abuse fears. Authorities eventually found McCready hiding in a residence without permission and took the boy into custody.

She and her boyfriend David Wilson had a son, Zayne, in April of 2012. The older son has a different father.

In May 2010, she was hospitalized briefly after police responded to an overdose call at a home in North Fort Myers, Fla., owned by her mother. This followed a stint on "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," where she delcared herself clean from drugs.

In 2004, she was charged with obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy. She pleaded guilty and was placed on three years' probation.

She violated the probation with a drunken driving arrest in May 2005. Then she attempted suicide in July 2005, overdosed in September 2005 and slit her wrists again in December 2008.

Also that year, McCready was charged in Arizona with hindering prosecution and unlawful use of transportation. Those charges stemmed from an alleged attempt in June 2005 to purchase two high performance boats, but she claimed she was trying to stop a con man.

She made headlines again in April 2008 when she acknowledged a longtime relationship with baseball great Roger Clemens. Published reports at the time said she met the pitcher at a Florida karaoke bar when she was 15 and he was 28 and married.

Growing up in Fort Myers, she took seven years of private vocal lessons and later sang in karaoke bars.

After getting her recording contract, she did concert appearances with top country stars including George Strait, Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson.

Her other singles included "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now," ''A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)" and "You'll Never Know."

In 1998, she was engaged to actor Dean Cain, but they apparently never married.

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) Reeva Steenkamp's last wish for her family before she was shot dead at boyfriend Oscar Pistorius' home was for them to watch her in a reality TV show that went on air in South Africa on Saturday night, two days after her killing.

Sharon Steenkamp, Reeva's cousin, told The Associated Press that the model and law graduate was "proud of being in the show" and reminded them in their last conversation to make sure that they watched it.

The South African Broadcasting Corp. aired the "Tropika Island of Treasure" program, showing the late Steenkamp the victim of a Valentine's Day shooting at the home of Pistorius, the Olympic star and double-amputee athlete. She is laughing and smiling, and blowing a kiss toward the camera in Jamaica when it was filmed last year.

South Africans also saw her swimming in the ocean and watching people jump off a cliff and into the sea, shaking her head as they leaped.

SABC said it was dedicated to Steenkamp and displayed the words "Reeva Steenkamp 19 August 1983 - 14 February 2013" between images of a rose and a candle in a short tribute before the show aired. She was also seen blowing the kiss as she sat on a Jamaican beach and her name again appeared on screen with the years of her birth and death.

The country was rocked Thursday when news broke of Steenkamp's shooting death at the upscale house of the star athlete. Pistorius was arrested and charged with her murder and remains in custody in a police station. His family has strongly denied prosecutors' claims that he murdered her.

Steenkamp's family said earlier Saturday that it had not been contacted by either the SABC South Africa's national broadcaster or the show's producers for permission to air it, but were not opposed to it because Reeva wanted everyone to see it.

"Her last words to us personally were that she wants us to watch it," Sharon Steenkamp said, hours before the program was shown.

SABC aired the reality show on its main channel, which prominently featured Steenkamp.

The show's executive producer, Samantha Moon, said going ahead with the show "is what she would have wanted."

Steenkamp, a 29-year-old blonde model who graduated from law school, died after suffering four gunshot wounds, police said. Officers recovered a 9-mm pistol from Pistorius' house and quickly charged the Olympian with murder for Steenkamp's killing.

Pistorius will appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing, something police have said they oppose. Prosecutors also say they will pursue upgraded charges of premeditated murder against him, which means the disabled icon and double-amputee runner could face a life sentence.

Steenkamp was known in South Africa for appearing in commercials and as a bikini-clad model in men's magazines.

Pistorius and Steenkamp met Nov. 4 at the Kyalami race track, which sits between Pretoria and Johannesburg and has been used for Grand Prix and Formula 1 races, said Justin Divaris, a mutual friend.

Divaris said his own girlfriend was a close friend to Steenkamp. Pistorius and Steenkamp immediately hit it off and decided in the spur of the moment to attend a sports award ceremony together the same night, Divaris said. At the time, Pistorius had been dating another woman and his personal life was constant fodder for gossip pages.

Later, however, problems may have started, as police have said there were previous domestic altercations at Pretorius' home in a gated community near South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

A Steenkamp family spokesman said late Friday that relatives still faced a long struggle to come to terms with her killing.

"I can't see the family getting over this shortly," said Reeva's uncle, Mike Steenkamp. "It's going to be a long, long-term reconciliation with a lot of things and issues."

Family members plan for a memorial service Tuesday for the model in Port Elizabeth, her hometown on South Africa's southern coast. Pistorius has a court appearance scheduled in Pretoria on the same day for his lawyers to argue that he can be released on bail.

Portions released earlier Saturday of the reality show, sponsored by a milk fruit drink, feature Steenkamp laughing and smiling on the beaches of Jamaica. Another portion shows her swimming with two dolphins, which tap her on the cheek with their snouts.

"I think the way that you go out, not just your journey in life, but the way that you go out and the way you make your exit is so important," Steenkamp says in the video. "You either made an impact in a positive or a negative way, but just maintain integrity and maintain class and just remain true to yourself.

"I'm going to miss you all so much and I love you very, very much."

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report.

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Gerald Imray can be reached at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP

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House Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., blamed the White House and Senate Democrats for failing to avert automatic spending cuts scheduled to take place next month, saying, "there's no leadership on the other side of the aisle and therefore no agreement."

"The Senate hasn't passed a bill to replace the sequester. The president gave a speech showing that he'd like to replace it, but he hasn't put any details out there. So that is why I conclude I believe it's going to take place," Ryan said this morning on "This Week" about the $85 billion in automatic cuts scheduled for March 1.

"What we've always said is let's cut spending in smarter ways to replace this sequester," Ryan told ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl. "We [the House] passed two bills doing that and we've heard nothing in response from the Senate Democrats or the president."

Congressional Republicans and President Obama remain at odds as the president seeks a package to avert the sequester that includes both spending cuts and new revenues. The House passed proposals to eliminate the sequester in the last Congress, but has failed to act during the new congressional term begun this January.

This morning, Ryan rejected a proposal by Senate Democrats to avoid the automatic cuts that included new tax revenues from closing existing loopholes.

"I'd be curious to see if they could actually pass that, number one. Number two, the president got his tax increases last year. He got those higher revenues," Ryan said. "But taking tax loopholes, what we've always advocated is necessary for tax reform, means you're going to close loopholes to fuel more spending, not to reform the tax code."

Newly-appointed White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said finding savings in the federal budget was "not impossible," but continued to stress the need for a "balanced" package that would protect the middle class by avoiding automatic spending cuts that would impact education, mental health services and the "devastating list of horribles" that would impact the Pentagon.

"We're going to insist on doing this in a balanced way," McDonough on "This Week." "This should not be a social science experiment. This should be a question where we ask ourselves 'what is most important to the economy, what is most important to the middle class families of this country,' and that's the way the president is going to do this."

Beyond the sequester, Ryan said he is beginning work on writing a budget that will balance in ten years - which would require even greater spending cuts than the recent budgets Ryan has written and that House Republicans backed last year.

"I'm very comfortable with the fact that we will produce a budget that balances," Ryan said. "The reason we want to do this is not simply to make numbers add up; we want to prevent a debt crisis, we want to grow the economy, we want to get people back to work in society and if we have a debt crisis, that is bad for our economy today."

When asked about his own political future, including the potential for a 2016 presidential run, Ryan said he was focused on his work in the House, saying, "That to me is my first priority. That's what I'm focused on."

"Will I or won't I? I don't know," Ryan added of his 2016 prospects. "I'm not foreclosing any opportunity. I may or I may not. I just don't know because right now we just had an election. We've got jobs to do We need to start thinking about doing our jobs after these elections than thinking about the next election."

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VATICAN CITY (AP) His arms outstretched in a symbolic embrace, Pope Benedict XVI blessed tens of thousands of cheering people on Sunday in one of his last appearances as pontiff from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

Last week, 85-year-old Benedict shocked the world by announcing his resignation. He will step down on Feb. 28, planning to retreat to a life of prayer in a monastery behind the Vatican's ancient walls.

The noontime appointment in the vast cobblestone square also served as a kind of trial run for how Rome will handle the logistics, including crowd security, as the city braces for faithful to flock to Rome for the election and installation of the cardinal who will succeed Benedict as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said upward of 100,000 people turned out Sunday and that everything went smoothly. But while there was still space in St. Peter's Square for more, many couldn't get in or easily out because entrances from the main boulevard were just too narrow.

The huge crowd including parents with babies in carriages and strollers, elderly people using canes, and the disabled in wheelchairs tried to squeeze through two spaces police left open in the metal barricades edging the square. Some people panicked or called out to police to help them get in or out of the square.

Pilgrims and tourists had an easier time if they entered through spaces in the elegant colonnade that architect Gianlorenzo Bernini designed to cradle the sides of the St. Peter's Square.

Benedict seemed touched by the outpouring of affection after his decision to go down in history as the first pontiff in some 600 years to resign. The pontiff told cardinals last week that he no longer has the mental and physical stamina to vigorously shepherd the church.

Looking into hazy sunshine Sunday, he smiled shyly at the sight of the crowd below, filled with pilgrims waving their countries' flags and holding up banners with words of support. One group of Italians raised a banner which read: "We love you."

Speaking in Italian, the pope told the cheering crowd: "Thanks for turnout in such numbers! This, too, is a sign of the affection and the spiritual closeness that you are giving me in these days." He stretched out his arms as if to embrace the faithful from across the vast expanse of the square.

Benedict made no direct reference to his departure. But in his comments to Spanish-speaking pilgrims he asked the faithful to "continue praying for me and for the next pope."

The traditional Sunday window appearance normally attracts a few thousand pilgrims and tourists, but this time city officials prepared for as many as 150,000 people seeking to witness one of Benedict's last opportunities to connect with the masses.

Authorities also used the event as a kind of trial run for the crowds expected to flock to the square in the coming weeks for the next pope's installation.

Following tradition, Benedict's successor will make his first papal appearance by stepping onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on the square, shortly after puffs of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney tell the world the cardinals have made their secret selection.

On Sunday, extra buses and subway trains ran from Rome's train stations to near the Vatican, and free shuttle vans offered lifts to the elderly or disabled.

Mayor Alemanno has asked Italy's government to put aside its austerity agenda and give Rome a few million euros (dollars) to help pay for security, garbage pickup and other logistics for the Vatican crowds.

On Sunday, several in the crowd were exhausted and shaken by their attempts to get into the square between the metal barriers.

"You can't invite thousands of people and then bottleneck the entrance and exit to the square," said Gianbattista Di Rese, an Italian among the distressed. "Imagine if someone had had a bomb. There could have been hundreds of dead." He got into the square but was stymied trying to get out.

Tourists must go through metal detectors before entering St. Peter's Basilica, but there is no such security to stroll the square.

An Associated Press reporter saw many people give up. Some started to panic and yell at police to do something to ease the bottleneck.

Those who arrived hours before the pope appeared could enter the square with ease for a chance to join in the show of support for him. "We wanted to wish him well," said Amy Champion, a tourist from Wales. "It takes a lot of guts to take the job and even more guts ... to quit."

But some were dismayed that Benedict broke with the centuries-old tradition that popes serve till their last breath.

A youth group Militia Christi (Latin for Christ's Militia) held a hand-painted banner asking the pope to stay. "We are asking him to change his mind. He is the good of the church," said youth GiovanBattista Varricchio.

No decision has been announced on a date for the conclave to elect Benedict's successor, but the Vatican has suggested that it might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules, which require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant. This has set off a debate whether such a change could be justified and whether it might benefit Rome-based cardinals who because of their positions at the church's headquarters can count on their acquaintance with cardinals around the world.

"Church law should not be changed on a whim," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, an American Vatican expert. He said changing law "would be disruptive."

On Sunday evening, the pope began a customary week of Lenten period reflection ahead of Easter, and his next public remarks won't come until Feb. 24, when he returns for his final studio window appearance over the square.

In his remarks to the throng Sunday, he told the faithful that during Lent "the church, which is mother and teacher, calls all its members to renew themselves in spirit, to reorient themselves decisively toward God, rejecting pride and egoism to live in love."

Benedict has chosen an Italian cardinal to preach to him and Vatican clergy during closed-door sessions in this week of meditation and prayer. The prelate, Gianfranco Ravasi, heads the Holy See's culture office and is touted by some Vatican watchers as a leading candidate to be the next pope. But other observers contend he is heavily identified with one of the rival blocs of Italian prelates in the Vatican's apparatus, which could hurt his chances.

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Daniela Petroff contributed reporting.

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BERLIN (AP) A Romanian drama that centers on a woman's effort to cover up her son's responsibility for an accident in which a boy is fatally injured won the Berlin film festival's top Golden Bear award on Saturday.

"Child's Pose," directed by Calin Peter Netzer, emerged as the winner from a field of 19 films that included a strong eastern European contingent this year the 63rd edition of the event, the first of the year's major European film festivals. Netzer said he was "a little bit speechless" at the award.

The tale of corruption and guilt depicts the efforts of an upper-class mother, played by Luminita Gheorghiu, to bribe witnesses to give false statements and keep her son the driver, who was speeding at the time of the accident out of prison.

"This is about a ... pathological relationship between mother and son," he told reporters later. "The rest is really just a backdrop," Netzer told reporters, stressing that it is "a very universal story" and that "corruption is not something which is only taking place in Romania."

A runner-up Silver Bear went to "An Episode In the Life of an Iron Picker," in which a Bosnian Roma, or gypsy, couple re-enact their own struggle to get treatment after their baby died in the womb. The movie was made on a tiny budget by Danis Tanovic, whose "No Man's Land" won the Oscar for best foreign-language film in 2002.

Nazif Mujic, the husband, was voted best actor by the festival jury.

"Of course, I'm not an actor I simply played my own story. I played myself in my family. I don't know what I should say," Mujic, who says that he still has no regular job and collects scrap metal as he did at the time the drama played out, told 3sat television.

Best actress was Paulina Garcia for the title role in Chilean director Sebastian Lelio's "Gloria." Garcia plays a divorcee at the end of her 50s trying to stave off loneliness, rushing into singles' parties but struggling to overcome disappointment.

American filmmaker David Gordon Green was honored as best director for "Prince Avalanche," a movie about two road workers whiling their way through a long, monotonous summer with little more than each other for company. It's a remake of an Icelandic film, "Either Way."

The best script award went to dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi for "Closed Curtain," a movie he co-directed with longtime friend Kamboziya Partovi in defiance of a ban on filmmaking.

The film, in which the two directors play the main roles, reflects Panahi's frustration at being unable to work officially it's set inside an isolated seaside villa, much of the time with the curtains drawn.

Partovi accepted the award on behalf of Panahi, who wasn't allowed to leave Iran, telling the audience that "it's never been possible to stop a thinker and a poet."

The prize for outstanding artistic achievement went to Aziz Zhambakiyev for his camerawork in Kazakh director Emir Baigazin's "Harmony Lessons," which centers on a teenager tormented by his schoolmates.

The festival's Alfred Bauer prize for innovation went to Canadian director Denis Cote's "Vic+Flo Saw a Bear."

A seven-member jury led by filmmaker Wong Kar-wai chose the winners.

Wong said the jury gave "special mentions" to two more films that didn't win awards, acknowledging "the integrity of their vision and their conviction that cinema can make a difference."

Those were Matt Damon's Gus Van Sant-directed drama on shale gas drilling, "Promised Land," and South African director Pia Marais' "Layla Fourie."

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SANYA, China (Reuters) - Placing bets on green-felt baccarat tables in a new casino bar on China's southern Hainan island, punters seem oblivious to a huge wager quietly being placed around them, one that could potentially siphon business from the world's largest gaming hub in Macau an hour's flight away.

For now, players at Jesters casino bar, part of the newly opened Mangrove Tree Resort World on Sanya Bay, cannot win cash - only points that they can use to pay for accommodation, luxury goods, jewelry and artwork for sale at the resort.

Owned by art, film and real estate mogul Zhang Baoquan, the casino bar marks the Chinese government's first tacit approval of a gaming concept outside of Macau. Global investors, including some of the world's biggest gaming companies, are watching to see how the chips will fall.

"Our casino bar is the first in the country. The government is monitoring, it's a test," Zhang told Reuters in a recent interview at his 23rd-floor office overlooking his sprawling 173-acre property that opened late last year.

"Right now we are not at this stage (legalising casino gambling), but my personal opinion is, in future, there is a big possibility that they will have."

The stakes are enormous -- China's monopoly gambling site, Macau, raked in $38 billion in gaming revenues last year, primarily from Chinese gamblers. If Beijing were to allow gambling elsewhere in the country, cash would follow.

It's not just the Chinese government that is watching the development. MGM Resorts International opened a hotel in Sanya last year and fellow U.S. casino operator Caesars Entertainment is set to open a hotel in 2014.

An MGM spokesman said the company had no plan to introduce "anything of this kind". Caesars did not respond to requests for comment.

Dressed in jeans and a black-and-white Hawaiian shirt during his interview, the 56-year-old Zhang said he aims to create an integrated resort similar to those in Las Vegas and Singapore where gaming, convention space and retail outlets are offered together.

Mangrove Tree Resort World, the newest addition to Hainan's rapidly developing hotel scene, will be China's biggest resort when construction is completed next year. It will have more than 4,000 rooms, a convention hall accommodating 6,000 people and facilities including a water park.

It is one of 10 integrated resorts that Zhang is developing around the country, including one more in Sanya and others stretching from Lhasa in Tibet to the eastern coastal city Qingdao.

While the Chinese government does not permit casinos in the country outside of Macau, Zhang - ranked by Forbes as one of the country's 300 richest people in 2012 with $600 million - said Hainan could become an exception.

Sensitive to existing restrictions, the soft-spoken businessman emphasized cultural attractions such as his art gallery that, along with the casino bar, will be incorporated into the planned resorts.

WINNING "MANGROVE" POINTS

Inside Jesters, which models itself on Macau's casino halls with garish chandeliers and a giant roulette wheel ceiling, players buy tickets costing 500 yuan ($80) each. Bets range from 20-2,000 yuan in the mass area, while the high-limits area is set at 2,000-100,000 yuan. Big whale punters will be able to bet over 100,000 yuan once the VIP room opens on the second floor.

The casino bar, with 50 gaming tables now, is currently open only to hotel guests, but when the resort is completed, local residents will be allowed in.

When players win, they receive "Mangrove" points that can be used to buy products available in the casino such as an iPad 3G or a Rimowa suitcase. Once luxury brands open outlets within the resort, customers will be able to spend their points in those stores. Art work from Zhang's Beijing art gallery is also available for purchase.

Retail stores including Prada and Louis Vuitton will be part of a network of 20 luxury stores that will open at the resort next year, Zhang said.

Zhang, president of Beijing conglomerate Antaeus, has the financial backing of China Development Bank. The state lender invested 70 percent of the cost of the Mangrove Tree expansion.

"The local governments are very supportive," says the boyish-looking Zhang, who started off as a carpenter in his hometown of Zhenjiang in eastern Jiangsu province, and now is well known as an arts philanthropist and prominent film investor.

Married to Wang Qiuyang, a mountaineer whose father Wang Chengbin was a former army commander, Zhang said any potential change to gambling restrictions would take time, adding that the government would need to decide whether to let other operators open similar casino bars.

"Gambling culturally is a very bad thing, but today there is a difference -- gambling is a financial tool," said Zhang.

"In Asia, even North Korea has two casinos. The richest country, Singapore, before you would never think society would accept it there. All over the world the attitude towards casinos is different from what it was traditionally."

SANYA AND BEYOND

China is positioning Hainan as an international tourist destination, approving the construction of 15 large resorts and 63 five-star hotels as part of the country's five-year plan.

As Chinese spend their money in new casinos across Asia from the Philippines to Vietnam, pressure is growing on Beijing to keep more gamblers at home.

"To some extent, the approval of gaming on Chinese soil is inevitable," said Gary Pinge, analyst at Macquarie Group in Hong Kong.

"With regional markets already vying for a share of the Chinese gambling wallet, unless China brings gaming onto its own shores, it will not only lose tax revenues to other countries, but also the 'multiplier effect' from the consumption spend."

In the meantime, Zhang is pushing ahead with his expansion plans. Aiming to list the Mangrove Tree brand on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2015, Zhang hopes to use the capital raised to take his Mangrove Tree brand outside of China.

"Sydney, the Maldives, the United States, England, Paris and Turkey" would all be good, said Zhang with a shy smile.

(Editing by Ken Wills)

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NEW YORK (AP) Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on "Downton Abbey." But she's not one of them.

The 78-year-old actress, who portrays Lady Grantham in the popular PBS series, told "60 Minutes" that she hasn't watched the drama because doing so would only make her agonize over her performance. She said she may watch it someday.

Smith told Steve Kroft, in an interview to be televised Sunday, that what she takes from the role is "the delight of acting."

She has two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony Award, but said the "Downton Abbey" role has given her more public recognition than anything in her career.

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LONDON (AP) Police have charged a longtime star of the British soap opera "Coronation Street" with child sex offenses including rape and indecent assault.

Michael Le Vell, who has played mechanic Kevin Webster on the show for 30 years, faces 19 charges. Police say the charges relate to offenses against a child between 2001 and 2010.

The actor released a statement Friday saying he would vigorously contest the charges.

"I will now put all my efforts into clearing my name and proving my innocence," he said.

He was originally arrested and questioned in 2011, but released without charge. Prosecutors said Friday they had overturned that decision.

The 48-year-old actor, whose real name is Michael Turner, is due in court Feb. 27.

The soap, set in a fictional working-class district in northwestern England, is one of the most popular programs on British television.

Broadcaster ITV said Le Vell would not appear in any episodes of "Coronation Street" pending the outcome of his trial.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Kim Kardashian has a due date for her baby and now a trial date for her divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries.

A judge on Friday set a May 6 trial for the reality TV star who wants to end her marriage before July, when her child with Kanye West is due.

Kardashian filed for divorce on Oct. 31, 2011, after she and Humphries had been married just 72 days. Their lavish, star-studded nuptials were recorded and broadcast by E! Entertainment Television.

The trial is expected to last three to five days and could reveal details about Kardashian's reality show empire, which includes "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and several spinoffs.

Two judges determined Friday that Humphries' lawyers had adequate time to prepare for the trial.

Humphries wants the marriage annulled based on his claim that Kardashian only married him for the sake of her show.

She denies that allegation and says the case should be resolved through what would be her second divorce.

Humphries' attorney Marshall Waller asked for a delay until basketball season is over.

But Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon refused, saying firefighters, police officers, truck drivers and others have to miss work for trials, and Humphries must do the same if necessary.

Waller filed paperwork Thursday to withdraw from the case but didn't mention that development in court and refused to answer any questions about the document on Friday.

Waller said he was still hoping to obtain and review 13,000 hours of footage from Kardashian's reality shows to try to prove the fraud claim but noted he does not yet have an agreement to receive the footage.

Kardashian's lawyer said her client was ready for trial.

"Let's get this case dispensed with," attorney Laura Wasser said.

Humphries has provided a deposition in the case, as have West and Kardashian family matriarch Kris Jenner.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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