Danny Puff

NEW YORK (AP) The election of a new pope presented news organizations Wednesday with a slowly unfolding mystery governed by centuries of tradition.

Television news personalities were clearly uncomfortable with the uncertainty. But it may have been the best thing for their networks, with the story revealing itself like a reality show competition, only this time without a manufactured conclusion.

White smoke or black smoke? Who's that sneaking a peek through the curtains at St. Peter's Square? When will someone appear to announce the new pope's name? Will it be anyone the odds makers have been predicting? ABC's Diane Sawyer could only marvel at the mystery during the hourlong period between white smoke and the appearance of the new Pope Francis.

"In this age of multiple media devices, the fact that nothing has leaked from behind that door is pretty amazing to the worldwide media gathering here," she said.

It must have felt strange after a seemingly endless political campaign, with new polls every day to decipher and a cacophony of consultants offering opinions. Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith was cut off by analyst Robert Moynihan of the Catholic news magazine "Inside the Vatican" when he started speculating on the front-runners in the papal election.

"We don't know, Shep," Moynihan said. "They could be surprising us."

CNN's Chris Cuomo tried to discern what it meant to get a new pope toward the end of the second day of the conclave. Was that relatively quick? Or not? Could it mean an advantage for a perceived front-runner? Or a long shot?

"Right now, there are only 115 people who know the answer to the question that is at the front of our brains," he said.

Ultimately, the man chosen as pope Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had not been considered a front-runner by most media outlets even though he reportedly was second to the retired Pope Benedict XVI in the last papal conclave in 2005.

Killing some time, NBC News offered a graphic that showed the amount of time between white smoke and the appearance of the new pope during the last three papal elections. Norah O'Donnell discussed on CBS how the new pope would be fitted into clothes.

A website, popealarm.com, that offered people a chance for a text or email alert when a new pope had been chosen did not move too swiftly. It took 12 minutes for a text to be delivered after the first appearance of white smoke.

Fortunately for reporters, it was relatively clear that white smoke was streaming from the Sistine Chapel chimney upon Pope Francis' election. It enabled broadcast networks to quickly and authoritatively break into regular programming. Earlier, there was much discussion on CNN about how the smoke could initially appear grey, including a description of chemicals used in the burning of ballots.

"Who knew smoke was so complicated?" said CNN's Carol Costello.

After Bergoglio was named, networks quickly searched their files and found footage of him. The key word from networks after the new Pope Francis made his first appearance: humility.

"There appears to be a humility in his choice of white vestments and in asking for a prayer for him," said NBC's Brian Williams.

The news quickly flooded the social media lines, along with some quick jokes. Some posts referenced movie titles: "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Pope"; "Jurassic Pope"; "Dpope Unchained."

A Twitter account that looked like it could be the pope's ((at)JMBergoglio) was flooded with followers, drawing more than 137,000. But it was clearly a fake, with one tweet saying he'd be loved more than Santa Claus.

There is an official pope account: (at)Pontifex. Pope Benedict XVI joined in December under that handle, but it went quiet after his retirement announcement.

Shortly after the new pope appeared, the account tweeted "HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM." ("We have a Pope Francis.")

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Associated Press correspondent Jake Coyle in New York contributed to this report.

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David Bauder can be reached at dbauder(at)ap.org and on Twitter (at)dbauder.

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GARY, Ind. (AP) Ed Asner's publicist says the 83-year-old actor, who has been touring the country performing a one-man show for more than three years, has been hospitalized with exhaustion.

Publicist Charles Sherman tells The Associated Press that Asner was taken off stage at the Marquette Pavilion in Gary, Ind., on Tuesday night.

Sherman says Asner was taken by ambulance to a Chicago-area hospital where he is "resting comfortably" and is expected to be released later Wednesday.

He says the actor, best known for his roles in TV's "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spinoff "Lou Grant," has been touring the nation portraying President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in "FDR" for 3 1/2 years.

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By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell sharply on Wednesday, coming off the 19-month high it reached a day earlier, as investors fled heavyweight energy, bank and mining stocks, while BlackBerry helped offset the losses after announcing a big order.

In a distinct break from the performance of U.S. stock markets, the resources-rich Canadian index posted a broad decline as commodity prices slipped and some of the country's big banks weighed heavily.

Power Financial Corp fell 3.2 percent to C$26.53 after the family-controlled holding company's profit fell on disappointing results at its mutual fund and insurance units.

"There is some disappointment about Power's numbers, which were not especially inspiring," said Gavin Graham, president at Graham Investment Strategy. "But it's very largely the golds and the materials."

The index's materials sector, which includes gold miners, has retreated some 15 percent this year, and its members were again among the heaviest weights on Wednesday. Among them, Goldcorp Inc fell 2.5 percent to C$33.12 and Teck Resources Ltd lost 2 percent to C$30.98.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 134.47 points, or 1.04 percent, at 12,744.11. That was its sharpest one-day move in either direction since November.

The selloff followed a steady rise since a mid-November trough, though the TSX has underperformed U.S. indexes over the period. The S&P 500 , Nasdaq and Dow all eked out minor gains on Wednesday.

"We've come a long way. The stock market can't go up every single day," said Craig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri.

"It's reasonable for investors to start to expect a little more volatility or potentially even a pullback in the near term," he said.

By far the biggest positive mover was BlackBerry , which surged late in the day to end up 8.2 percent at C$16.04 after the smartphone maker said a partner had ordered 1 million BlackBerry 10 devices.

Royal Bank of Canada was the single biggest weight, down 1.7 percent at C$61.45. Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1 percent to C$60.07, and Toronto-Dominion Bank was 0.8 percent lower at C$84.23.

(Additional reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Peter Galloway)

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By Greg Gilman

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Steven Soderbergh will deliver the tenth annual State of Cinema Address at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, the San Francisco Film Society announced on Wednesday.

The Academy Award-winning director of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," "Traffic" and "Side Effects," will speak at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas on April 27 - a month before what may be his final feature-length film, "Behind the Candelabra," premieres on HBO.

Soderbergh declared his intentions to retire from filmmaking to focus on painting in several interviews in 2011. He later commented that retirement may be too strong of a word and "sabbatical" was more appropriate.

Either way, Ted Hope, the executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, believes the filmmaker's plans for the future, paired with his experience, will make whatever he decides to say very interesting.

"Steven Soderbergh has been a one-man force for change in the film business, never neglecting the art, entertainment or process, pushing the industry forever forward," Hope said. "His keen awareness of the current moment in the development of this art form makes him particularly well suited to deliver the Festival's State of Cinema Address, especially considering his apparent intention to retire from filmmaking."

Previous State of Cinema speakers at the San Francisco Film Fest have been author Jonathan Lethem, film producer Christine Vachon, film editor Walter Murch, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, Wired publisher Kevin Kelly, actress Tilda Swinton, writer/director Brad Bird, cultural commentator B. Ruby Rich and Michel Ciment, the longtime editor of the influential French film magazine Positif.

The festival kicks off on April 25 and runs through May 9.

"Who better to point the way forward than this artist whose career has embodied the spirit of independence from the very beginning?" Hope added. "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear what he has to say."

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Wednesday that it would delay a decision on allegations that Apple infringed upon patents owned by Samsung Electronics in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad.

An administrative law judge at the ITC had said in a preliminary ruling in September that Apple did not infringe the patents. The full ITC said it would review the matter. If the full ITC reversed its internal judge and found Apple guilty of infringement, the ITC could order its products banned from the U.S. market.

The ITC said it would now issue a decision on May 31. It requested filings on questions related to the effect of banning the Apple products on the public interest and whether there were acceptable substitutes for the Apple products if they were to be banned.

Apple has a parallel complaint filed against Samsung at the ITC, accusing Samsung, a major Apple chip provider as well as a global rival, of copying its iPhones and iPads. An ITC judge said in that case that Samsung infringed on four Apple patents.

Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to some 10 countries and four continents as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry.

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker, while Apple is in second place, according to Gartner Inc, a technology research company.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; editing by Andrew Hay)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) "Veronica Mars" fans eager for a movie based on the TV series have a chance to put their money where their hopes are.

Series creator Rob Thomas launched an online crowd-funding campaign Wednesday to make a big-screen version of the show. "Veronica Mars," which starred Kristen Bell as a young sleuth, ended its three-season run in 2007.

On the Kickstarter website, Thomas said the $2 million fundraiser represents "our one shot to see a 'Veronica Mars' movie happen." Within hours Wednesday, more than 23,000 backers had pledged $1.5 million and counting.

It's the fastest project yet to reach $1 million on Kickstarter in 4 hours, 24 minutes and the most-funded film or video project to date, according to a spokesman for the site. Previous top movie fundraisers are the planned "The Goon" ($442,000) and "Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa" ($406,000), both animated.

Thomas said "Veronica Mars" owner Warner Bros. has given the project its blessing, and Bell and other cast members are ready to begin production this summer for a 2014 release. A studio spokesman said a limited release, meaning it may not be on thousands of screens or in every city, is likely at this point.

The fundraising campaign, which was confirmed by Thomas' representative at United Talent Agency, ends April 12.

"You have banded together like the sassy little honey badgers you are and made this possibility happen," Bell said in an online message, promising the "sleuthiest, snarkiest" movie possible.

Bell is back on TV in "House of Lies," the Showtime series starring Don Cheadle.

She and several "Veronica Mars" cast members appear in a lighthearted video on Kickstarter in which they mull the prospect of reuniting.

The series averaged between 2.2 million and 2.5 million viewers in its two-year run on the now-defunct UPN and final season on the CW network. Those modest numbers are overshadowed by the intense fan devotion that has kept dreams of a movie alive.

Backers are eligible for various goodies, ranging from a PDF copy of the script to be sent on the day the film is released (for a $10 pledge) to naming rights to a character (for $8,000). An appearance in the movie, available to one $10,000 contributor, was snapped up.

Crowdsourcing has given filmmakers a new way to get always-elusive funding. At last month's Academy Awards, the short documentary "Inocente" became the first Kickstarter-funded film to win an Oscar. It received $52,000 from 300 contributors.

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AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://kck.st/Z1HJRS

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By Euan Rocha

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry's volatile shares surged on Wednesday after the smartphone maker said one of its established partners had placed an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones, with shipments set to begin immediately.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it is the largest ever single purchase order in its history, a big fillip for the company that is attempting to regain relevance in the ultra-competitive smartphone market, where it has ceded ground to rivals like Apple Inc's iPhone, Samsung Electronics' line of Galaxy devices and other devices powered by Google Inc's Android operating system.

In a make-or-break move to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced a new line of smartphones powered by its BlackBerry 10 operating system, to much fanfare earlier this year. The touchscreen version dubbed the Z10 is already on sale in over 20 countries, while a device named the Q10 with a physical keyboard is set to be launched in April.

The company, which has abandoned its old name, Research In Motion, and renamed itself BlackBerry, did not disclose either the location of the "established partner" or the time frame for the device sales. BlackBerry also did not disclose whether the order is for just Z10 devices or both Z10 and Q10 devices.

Despite the lack of detail, analysts view the announcement as a positive, especially since it comes close on the heels of announcements from Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc - the two largest U.S. wireless carriers - that they plan to begin selling the Z10 device later this month.

"The combination of these three announcements gives us more comfort in our May quarter (forecast)," said Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um in a note to clients.

Um, who has an outperform rating on the stock, expects sales of 2.5 million BlackBerry 10 devices in the quarter ending June 1.

BlackBerry's stock ended the day up 8.2 percent at $15.65 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, while its Toronto-listed shares rose by a similar margin to C$16.04.

After the closing bell, the stock rose further, at 19:00 ET it was trading at $16.07 in the United States.

BGC analyst Colin Gillis however warned that it is too early to read too much into the single sales order.

"It's good for them...But the reality is the sales are going to be spread out over time," he said. "This is a nice headline, but it doesn't answer the questions that are still surrounding the company."

Last week, BlackBerry Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, said the company was very encouraged by the traction that the Z10 was gaining. Heins said sales of the high-end device had surpassed BlackBerry's expectations in emerging markets like India, where cheaper entry-level phones are typically popular.

BlackBerry is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on March 28, for the period ended March 2.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Bob Burgdorfer)

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By Sharon Waxman

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - A debate continues to rage among women alternately inspired or incensed by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who in a new book exhorts women to "lean in" to leadership jobs.

Mostly incensed.

The Maureen Dowds of the world weighed in with a vengeance two weeks ago, pillorying Sandberg for having "co-opted the vocabulary and romance of a social movement not to sell a cause, but herself."

The clamor has not gotten any better since then, with others arguing that Sandberg speaks from a place of privilege that is out of touch with the real lives of working women.

On Sunday night, a defensive Sandberg went on "60 Minutes" to explain herself, telling Norah O'Donnell: "I am saying we need to help women own the power they have -- learn how to negotiate for raises and get the pay they deserve." She added: "I'm not trying to say that everything I can do everyone can do."

But the press again this weekend was full of women's voices reacting negatively to Sandberg's argument that women need to "lean in" by asserting themselves more in the workplace, by having the confidence to sit at the conference table with the big boys and not duck promotions if they're thinking of having children.

Their consensus seems to be: Are you serious?

The outrage is not from middle managers. It's from women working at the top end of the pyramid.

In the Wall Street Journal, entrepreneur Jody Miller retorted that it's not that women aren't showing ambition; it's corporate culture that has not adapted to the needs of women leaders:

"'Leaning in' may help the relative handful of talented women who can live with the way that top jobs are structured today - and if that's their choice, more power to them," Miller wrote. "But only a small percentage of women will choose this route. Until the rest of us get serious about altering the way work gets done in American corporations, we're destined to howl at the moon over the injustice of it all while changing almost nothing."

Erin Callan, the former chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers, claims her zero-sum devotion to her job ended in humiliation. In the New York Times' Sunday Review section, Callan noted that after she dropped out of the corporate life as Lehman Brothers faced bankruptcy, she realized she had nothing left.

"I thought my singular focus on my career was the most powerful ingredient in my success," she writes. "But I am beginning to realize that I sold myself short. I was talented, intelligent and energetic. It didn't have to be so extreme. Besides, there were diminishing returns to that kind of labor.

"Inevitably, when I left my job, it devastated me," she writes. "I couldn't just rally and move on. I did not know how to value who I was versus what I did.

What I did was who I was."

Even Anne-Marie Slaughter, a policy analyst and Princeton professor who has fueled the debate with a piece in the Atlantic about why women "can't have it all," praised Sandberg for most of a New York Times book review on Sunday but gently circles back to a critical conclusion:

"Sandberg's approach, as important as it is, is at best half a loaf," she wrote. "(And) it is hard not to notice that her narrative is what corporate America wants to hear. For both the women who have made it and the men who work with them, it is cheaper and more comfortable to believe that what they need to do is simply urge younger women to be more like them, to think differently and negotiate more effectively, rather than make major changes in the way their companies work."

This is unfortunate, Slaughter said. "Sandberg seems ideally placed to ask the question that all too often gets lost amid the welter of talk. When it comes to ensuring that caregivers still have paths to the corner office, how can business lean in?"

And young career women reading the arguments seem to find it all confusing. "The bashing is unsurprising," wrote Colleen Leahy on Fortune.com, "as it's become something of a trend to tear apart powerful corporate females in an attempt to promote the women's movement. (See guys, we are confusing!)"

Well, no, not really. The bashing has come because when you boil down Sandberg's argument it really sounds like: "Try harder." "Be tougher." "Don't give up." And to a generation of women who have been burning the candle at both ends to achieve the Holy Grail of professional and personal fulfillment, that feels insulting.

Every working woman I have known for the past 20 years is justifiably exhausted.

Here's what I like about Sandberg: She's started a vital conversation. Here's what I don't like. I'm with "Are you serious?"

There was nothing more physically depleting to me than my 30s, trying to "lean in" to a demanding, 24/7 job as a reporter for national newspapers, while raising three young children. At the same time, the effort was incredibly nourishing, laying the groundwork for the career I have today and the family that surrounds me.

But still: At one point I found myself in a doctor's office dealing with some physical symptom of the unrelenting pace. He asked whether I could give up part of my life to alleviate the evident stress. "Which one of my kids do you suggest I give back?" I retorted, probably not politely enough.

Then as now, I marvel at the fact that there is no national conversation at all. Anywhere. At any time. About the single issue that could alleviate the burden on women: Child care. (I'd like to add a few adjectives there: affordable, accessible, reliable, educational, responsive child care.) For women trying to build their careers through their child-bearing years, and for the dads doing so as well, the lack of this resource in our society as a community value is the elephant in the room.

Once upon a time I believed that Hillary Clinton would raise the issue during her husband's presidency. But over time I learned that the notion of a public or private child care system - which like public health care is a given in European countries - is an subject non grata in this country.

For me, it's certainly been no easier launching and running a start-up company now that my kids are older. And I do envy (and support) Sandberg's insistence on going home to her young kids at 5:30 on many days. It's just not feasible for most of us.

As for child care, or the absence thereof, not one of the articles I read in reaction to Sandberg even brought it up. Instead, Sandberg recommends "lean-in" groups. To which I'd say: How about just a really good babysitting service?

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By Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS (Reuters) - Late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's influence may have stretched into the afterlife and had a hand in Christ's decision to opt for a Latin American Pope, acting President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday.

"We know that our commander ascended to the heights and is face-to-face with Christ," Maduro said at a Caracas book fair. "Something influenced the choice of a South American pope, someone new arrived at Christ's side and said to him: 'Well, it seems to us South America's time has come.'"

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected in a surprise choice to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.

"He (Chavez) may also call a constitutional assembly in Heaven at any moment to change the (Catholic) church on Earth so the people, the pure people of Christ, may govern the world," Maduro added of his mentor.

Chavez, who died last week, is revered with quasi-religious fervor by many of Venezuela's poorest for spending heavily on social programs and thumbing his nose at Western capitalism.

Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor, is hoping to benefit from the outpouring of grief among his supporters and win an April 14 presidential vote.

Though influenced by an eclectic mix of revolutionary heroes and thinkers, Chavez always professed himself to be a devout Catholic, increasingly so during his final two-year battle with cancer.

During one Mass for his health last year, Chavez wept in public and pleaded with God to extend his life.

But his tumultuous rule included constant spats with Catholic leaders whom he accused of siding with Venezuela's traditional elite.

Not to be outdone by Maduro ahead of the looming April election, Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles sent a congratulatory letter to the new pontiff.

"I ask you to bless Venezuela and Venezuelans, bless families and he who writes to you," wrote Capriles, also a devout Catholic who often visits a shrine on Margarita Island.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Daniel Wallis,; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Xavier Briand and Sandra Maler)

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By Bernard Vaughan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal jury in New York on Wednesday found that video game company Nintendo Co infringed an inventor's 3-D display technology patent with its handheld 3DS videogame system.

The jury awarded the inventor, Seijiro Tomita, $30.2 million in compensatory damages.

The patent relates to technology that Tomita developed for providing 3-D images without the need for 3-D glasses.

In opening arguments last month, Tomita's attorney, Joe Diamante, told the jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that Nintendo used technology that Tomita developed for its 3DS. Tomita is a former longtime Sony Corp employee.

But Scott Lindvall, a defense attorney for the Super Mario Bros franchise creator, argued that the 3DS doesn't use key aspects of Tomita's patent.

Lindvall also said a 2003 meeting with Nintendo officials that Tomita cited in his argument was merely one of several the company held with vendors selling 3-D display technology.

Tomita, 58, sued Nintendo and its U.S. unit in 2011 for patent infringement. Tomita was not present in the courtroom on Wednesday.

"We are thankful to the jurors for their diligence and hard work," Diamante said in an e-mail after the verdict. "It has been a honor to represent Mr. Tomita and to protect his invention."

Lindvall declined to comment following the verdict. Nintendo officials were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Richard Chang)

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