Danny Puff

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) The documentary on a massive strike that paralyzed life in Nigeria features newspaper headlines, television news footage and other information widely known about a government gasoline subsidy that saw billions of dollars stolen by greedy companies and the nation's elite.

It also, according to Nigerian authorities, could spark violence and potentially threaten national security.

The 30-minute film called "Fuelling Poverty" has been online for months, but only recently Nigerian officials have refused its director permission to show it publicly in this oil-rich nation of more than 160 million people. While free speech is enshrined in this democratic nation's constitution, an ever-increasing drumbeat of complaints and critical articles about the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has seen authorities increasingly target journalists and others.

The film, sponsored by Soros Foundation's Open Society Justice Initiative for West Africa, focuses on the protests around Jonathan's decision to remove subsidies on gasoline in January 2012. Life in Nigeria ground to a halt before unions backed down. Later, a report by lawmakers demanded businesses and government agencies to return some $6.7 billion over the subsidy program.

Ishaya Bako, who directed the film that features civil rights activists and Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka, later applied for the right to show the film publicly. In a letter dated April 8, Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board told Bako that the documentary was "prohibited for exhibition in Nigeria."

"I am further to inform you that this decision is due to the fact that the contents of the film are highly provocative and likely to incite or encourage public disorder and undermine national security," the letter signed by board lawyer Effiong Inwang reads. "Please you are strongly advised not to distribute or exhibit the documentary film. All relevant national security agencies are on the alert."

Tanko Abdullahi, a spokesman for the board, initially told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the film wasn't banned, but was "denied classification." Later, in the same conversation, he acknowledged it couldn't be shown over unspecified "security issues."

"What is national security for Nigeria is different from that of the U.S.A.," Abdullahi said. "We made that determination because of the content of the film. That's why you have regulators."

The government's decision has seen more people watch the film online. It also has sparked outrage from human rights activists and press freedom groups.

"Instead of banning the documentary 'Fuelling Poverty,' authorities should look into the important questions it raises about corruption and impunity in the country's oil sector and at the highest levels of government," Mohamed Keita, an official with the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. "We urge Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board to overturn this censorship order."

The move to ban the film comes as Jonathan's government, which many voted for believing he would change the engrained interests and corruption of Nigeria's government, has grown increasingly unpopular as extremists carry out bombings and the state-run power company cannot offer stable electricity. During the strikes, government officials put increasing pressure on broadcasters not to show images of protests, which at one point saw tens of thousands in the streets of Lagos.

Today, journalists at a newspaper face forgery charges over a story that claimed the presidency would try to disrupt opposition parties. Security agencies have harassed reporters at a weekly newspaper that wrote about abuses by the military in its crackdown against Islamic extremists. And workers who ran a call-in radio show in the northern city of Kano face charges over talking about rumors surrounding polio vaccinations in the wake of at least nine women vaccinators being killed.

Despite the outcry, however, the apparent crackdown continues, only fueling more of the same apathy for Nigeria's government seen by those featured in the documentary.

"We don't have government. It's a whole big banana republic," barber Emmanuel Tom Ekin says in the film. "They've been coming telling us story all the time, deceiving us. And right now, in our faces, they are still deceiving us."

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Online:

The "Fuelling Poverty" documentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVq10BwzQoI

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

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By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell in a broad market selloff Wednesday, led by a sharp drop in Apple shares on worries about slowing demand for its products and weaker-than-expected results from Bank of America that battered the financial sector.

Apple Inc slid 5.5 percent to $402.80 after falling below $400 for the first time since December 2011. A key supplier, chipmaker Cirrus Logic , gave a disappointing revenue forecast, fueling worries about weakening demand for the iPhone and iPad.

The CBOE Volatility index , a measure of investor anxiety, jumped 18.3 percent to 16.51. It remains well below the 20 mark, however, suggesting market volatility is still considered relatively subdued.

Wednesday's losses were the week's second big sell-off, adding to views the market may be starting the pullback analysts have been speculating about for months. The market has had strong gains since the start of year, yet on Monday, the S&P 500 posted its worst day since November 7 following a sharp drop in gold prices.

"After Monday's gold selloff spooked U.S. equities, it seems as though the dip buyers are a bit less aggressive, allowing the market to fall a bit more," said Gordon Charlop, a managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York.

"This could also be indicative of a muted risk tolerance and perhaps mark the beginning of a long-awaited equity pullback."

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 138.19 points, or 0.94 percent, at 14,618.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 22.56 points, or 1.43 percent, at 1,552.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 59.96 points, or 1.84 percent, at 3,204.67.

Volume was roughly 7.89 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, well above the average daily closing volume of about 6.36 billion this year. Decliners outpaced advancers by nearly 4 to 1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

Financial stocks also fell after Bank of America Corp posted revenue and profits that were below Wall Street expectations. Shares of the Dow component slumped 4.7 percent to $11.70.

The S&P financial index was down 1.9 percent and shares of Morgan Stanley , due to report Thursday, were down 1.7 percent.

Besides financials and technology, energy and materials sectors fell sharply along with oil and copper prices. The S&P 500 energy companies fell 1.9 percent and shares of Chevron slid 1.9 percent to $114.81 and helped lead declines on the Dow.

As Apple shares moved lower, the stock's implied volatility shot higher, reflecting more risk for the stock in the next 30 days.

"This continues a trend since December 2012 where the risk paradigm in Apple has changed," said Ophir Gottlieb, managing director of San-Francisco-based options analytics Livevol.

In a notable technical move, the S&P 500 came close to falling below its 50-day moving average. It has not fallen below the level since the end of last year.

Among other tech decliners, Texas Instruments shed 4.3 percent to $34.21. Yahoo Inc declined 0.4 percent to $23.70 after the Internet company reported first-quarter revenue that missed expectations, though many Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock.

S&P 500 earnings are now expected to have risen 1.7 percent in the first quarter, based on actual results from 56 companies and estimates for the rest, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That expectation is up from a previous estimate of 1.5 percent growth at the start of the month, but so far just 48.2 percent of companies this reporting period have beaten revenue expectations.

After the closing bell, shares of eBay and memory chipmaker SanDisk fell after reporting results. EBay was down 2.3 percent at $54.80 while shares of SanDisk were down 3.1 percent at $54.

Adding to uncertainty in the market, authorities said a letter sent to President Barack Obama and intercepted at a mail screening facility contained the deadly poison ricin, according to preliminary testing.

"The ongoing sequence of these terrorist incidents ... doesn't create an environment for good investor psychology," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel and Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reality television star Kim Kardashian and NBA basketball player Kris Humphries have finally settled their divorce, avoiding a trial that was set for next month, a Los Angeles County Superior Court spokeswoman said on Friday.

Judge Hank Goldberg approved the divorce settlement for the couple, who broke up after just 72 days following their made-for-TV wedding in August 2011.

Celebrities usually settle their divorces through negotiation rather than at a trial that can fuel publicity.

Humphries, 28, had been demanding an annulment, alleging that Kardashian, who cited irreconcilable difference when filing for divorce, had no intention of keeping to the marriage, which was filmed as part of her reality show.

Terms of the divorce were not made public. Kardashian, 32, attended the hearing, but Humphries, who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, did not.

Kardashian's publicist declined to comment on the settlement. Humphries' spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The socialite started dating rapper Kanye West in April last year and is now about six months pregnant with her first child.

The divorce will be Kardashian's second. She was married to music producer Damon Thomas for four years, separating in 2004.

Kardashian, who stars with her sisters in reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," also has a clothing line and several product endorsements, and was the most-searched person on the Yahoo! website in 2012.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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BOSTON (AP) The manhunt for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing is causing filming on David O. Russell's film "American Hustle" to be suspended.

Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said Friday that the film's producers are heeding official requests to remain indoors as a massive manhunt Friday virtually shut down the city and some suburbs.

Authorities suspended mass transit and asked businesses not to open as thousands of officers swarmed the streets.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra also said it was postponing its Friday night concert for a week.

"American Hustle," about an FBI sting operation in the late '70s, features Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper both stars of Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" along with Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

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By Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's shares fell below $400 on Wednesday for the first time since December 2011 after a chip supplier's disappointing revenue forecast fanned fears about weakening demand for the iPhone and iPad as competition intensifies.

The stock dropped below $400 briefly before bouncing back to end 5.5 percent lower at $402.80, losing more than $22 billion of market value in a single day.

Cirrus Logic, which makes analog and audio chips for the iPhone and iPad, on Tuesday warned of a reduced product forecast from one customer - which it did not name. But 90 percent or more of its business comes from Apple, making it a key indicator of demand for iPhones and iPads.

The surprise warning fueled fears that demand for the iPhone - which makes up more than half of Apple's revenue - is falling faster than expected as Samsung Electronics and other rivals who use Google Inc's Android software flood the market with cheaper phones. Typically, many Apple fans also hold off on buying the gadgets if they believe a new model will be introduced in the next few months.

Apple is to report quarterly results on Tuesday. Analysts say Cirrus Logic's reduced outlook lends weight to arguments that consumers' love affair with the iPhone is waning as challengers such as Samsung vie for their attention.

"This is a tough environment. Apple is in transition between products," said Michael Yoshikami, a portfolio manager at Destination Wealth Management, which owns about 50,000 Apple shares. Cirrus's warning "makes it more likely Apple's not going to surprise on upside."

Since its September 2012 peak, Apple has lost 40 percent of its market value or more than $280 billion - slightly more than Google's entire capitalization - battered by worries about the effect on Apple's industry-leading margins if it's forced to do faster updates of its products to keep up.

Some believe Apple will not be able to sustain its high gross margins as competition in the tablet and smartphone markets leads to lower prices. Shorter product cycles limit Apple's ability to bring down component costs, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a note to clients.

Cirrus's weak forecast follows a 19 percent decline in first-quarter sales at Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, Apple's main contract manufacturer.

"It's a reminder of weakening demand and the challenges around product transitions," Shannon Cross, of Cross Research, said. "There's not a lot of conviction about what the second half is going to look like."

Verizon Communications Inc, which with Vodafone controls the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Wireless, reports results on Thursday and may offer more clues to iPhone and iPad demand in the quarter.

NERVES

Investors are growing increasingly nervous about Apple's growth prospects.

Shares of other chip makers and Apple suppliers, including Qualcomm, Avago Technologies, Broadcom and Skyworks, fell between 2 and 6 percent on a day that saw broad weakness in financial markets.

Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope said in a note on Wednesday that Apple's momentum could weaken further before it launches new products later this year.

Apple, which relies heavily on new products to drive its revenue growth, has not had a launch since last October when it unveiled its 7.9-inch iPad mini and an updated full-size iPad.

The company typically launches a new iPad in the spring, but it is unlikely to do so because of the October update. Looking forward, investors now expect an upcoming new iPhone to power earnings in the second half. The two versions of the iPad are also likely to get an update in the fall.

In the past week, analysts had reduced their estimates for Apple's March quarter revenue on average to $42.53 billion from $42.68 billion. Following Cirrus' warning on Tuesday, some think Apple's results could miss those already reduced expectations.

Apple is expected to report a 9 percent increase in quarterly revenue, with net profit expected to decline 17 percent to $9.59 billion, or $10.08 a share, for its fiscal second quarter, according to average analysts' estimates.

Sacconaghi, who lowered his revenue estimate to $41.1 billion from $42.4 billion, said he expects mixed results with Apple's revenue coming in below consensus and earnings per share largely as expected.

Apple's implied volatility, which measures perceived risk of future stock movement, shot up on Wednesday. The implied volatility for the next 30 days for Apple stood at 43.73 percent, a 16.7 percent increase.

Share price volatility should increase into earnings and surpass an annual high in the next few days, said Ophir Gottlieb, managing director of options analytics firm Livevol.

(Additional reporting By Edwin Chan; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Andrew Hay, Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) NBC said Friday that it's pulling an episode of its serial killer drama "Hannibal" out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings.

The episode that was to air next week features a character, played by guest star Molly Shannon, who brainwashes children to kill other children.

"Hannibal" executive producer Bryan Fuller asked NBC to pull the episode, citing the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December and this week's Boston Marathon attack, NBC spokesman Stuart Levine said.

Fuller said Friday that he began talking with NBC executives several weeks ago about keeping the episode off the air. His concern was prompted by Newtown and reinforced by Monday's violence, he said.

Although the "Hannibal" story is unrelated to real-world events, the intent was "to be sensitive to where we are as a nation," Fuller said.

The episode, the fourth for the freshman series, will be replaced by another "Hannibal" hour. Viewers will not see a plot continuity issue, Levine said.

But a "clip package" with scenes from the unaired episode will be available at NBC.com next week, without the scenes of child violence and with commentary by Fuller. That will allow viewers to keep current with the show's larger story arcs, the producer said.

"Hannibal" stars Mads Mikkelsen as the title character, the brilliant cannibalistic killer seen on the big screen in "The Silence of the Lambs" and its sequel and introduced in the Thomas Harris novel "Red Dragon." Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne also star in the drama.

There have been other instances of networks responding quickly to the potentially difficult overlap between fact and fiction.

ABC has delayed airing an episode of the crime drama "Castle" in which a main character, New York police Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), steps on a pressure-sensitive bomb. It had been scheduled to air next Monday, one week after two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 180.

"Out of respect," Katic tweeted Wednesday.

Last December, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, the Syfy channel pulled an episode of the series "Haven" that featured a campus violence story line.

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Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org and http://twitter.com/lynnelber .

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LOS ANGELES (AP) The Fox TV series "Glee" will keep on singing for another two years.

The network announced Friday that it has renewed the show about music-loving students through 2014-2015 its 6th season.

In a statement, Fox Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly said "Glee" continues to break new ground as a rare successful TV musical comedy. The show been a music hit as well, with more than 50 million downloads of "Glee" tracks and worldwide album sales of more than 13 million.

"Glee" has expanded from its original focus on the McKinley High School glee club to the college world of Rachel and Kurt, played by cast members Lea Michele and Chris Colfer.

Next Thursday's episode will feature Sarah Jessica Parker. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson are among previous "Glee" A-list drop-ins.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Internet was abuzz on Thursday over a report that President Xi Jinping, who is striving to portray himself as a humble man, had hailed a cab in Beijing last month. The report was later dismissed by state media as being false.

Many Chinese news portals, which had carried the story, removed it, including the website of the newspaper that wrote the original piece.

The report, which first appeared in the Beijing-backed Ta Kung Bao newspaper of Hong Kong, went viral on Chinese microblogs and the Internet before the official Xinhua news agency stepped in to say it was all untrue.

The Ta Kung Pao later posted an apology on its website.

"Because of our lapse, a significant false report appeared," the newspaper said. "For this, we sincerely apologise to our readers, We take this as a warning, and will return to producing accurate and rigorous reporting for the public."

The story had portrayed Xi, who has been keen to break from the stiff and aloof style of past leaders, as a man who takes random taxi rides and gives moderate tips.

The Ta Kung Pao said that China's new leader hailed a cab in the capital last month to take him to the Diaoyutai Hotel, part of the well-guarded state guesthouse.

Taxi driver Guo Lixin said he picked up two men, one of whom turned out to be Xi, who at the time was Chinese Communist Party secretary and was two weeks later named China's president.

"This is hilarious. It shows that people will believe anything," wrote one user on Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, after Xinhua's denial.

(Reporting by Terril Yue Jones and Eleven Du; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) The attorney for a Maine man who lived in the woods as a hermit for 27 years has established a fund to repay people who think they were victims of burglaries at their cottages by the recluse.

Christopher Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit, may have committed as many as 1,000 burglaries over the years for food, clothing, camping and cooking gear and other supplies that allowed him to live at a camp in the woods of the rural town of Rome, police have said.

Knight, who is 47, was arrested earlier this month while allegedly breaking into a camp for people with special needs to steal food. He is being held on $25,000 bail.

Knight's lawyer, Walter McKee, told the Kennebec Journal the account will pay for "what will be the substantial restitution he will owe for what he took."

"Chris very much wants to make things right," McKee told the Augusta newspaper via email. People who want to contribute to the fund can send donations to McKee at his Augusta law firm.

Lillie Cogswell of Wimberley, Texas, whose camp on Little North Pond was burglarized, said that her family "the monetary issue is not an overriding issue" and that there should be consequences for Knight's behavior.

"The bigger part was all of us feeling uncomfortable and not feeling safe and feeling like someone was watching us in our homes," said Cogswell.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said following Knight's initial court appearance Tuesday that she expects he will be charged in connection with 15 to 20 burglaries that were reported to police in recent years. Knight's next hearing was scheduled for June 11. So far, he has entered no plea on several burglary and theft charges.

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/

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By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A star-studded crowd gathered to celebrate the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees on Thursday, as Oprah Winfrey and Usher gathered to pay homage to the likes of Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Randy Newman and Rush.

Disco queen Summer, producer Jones and comedy-rock singer Newman were inducted along with Canadian progressive rock band Rush, blues guitarist Albert King, hip hop pioneers Public Enemy, rockers Heart and veteran producer Lou Adler.

Television personality and media mogul Winfrey, who said she was discovered by veteran R&B producer Jones when he cast her in "The Color Purple" in 1985, praised his decades-long career, during which he launched stars such as the late Michael Jackson.

"He defines the word legend, he is remarkable and everybody knows it," Winfrey said.

"I continue to be amazed at what goes on in his head ... he's of this time and so far ahead of this time," she added as she present Jones, 80, with his induction trophy.

"Queen of Disco" Summer, who died last May aged 68, was inducted by singer Kelly Rowland, who praised Summer's career for paving the way for female artists

"Her words remind us of exactly who we are," she said.

Summer's husband and daughters were on hand to accept her trophy and singer Jennifer Hudson got the crowd on their feet singing Summer's hits "Bad Girls" and "Last Dance".

Newman, 69, kicked off the night with "I Love LA", joined on stage by musicians Tom Petty, Jackson Browne and John Fogerty and later performed his songs "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" and "I'm Dead" with former Eagles member Don Henley.

Henley, who inducted Newman, criticized the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for its delay in including Newman, calling it "one of those inductions long overdue, in fact, shamefully overdue."

Newman was less critical, saying he was "glad" to be inducted while he was still alive.

"I always wanted to be respected by musicians ... it means a great deal to me that the people I respect are giving me respect," Newman said.

TRIBUTE TO THE BLUES

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Mayer paid homage to late pioneering American blues guitarist Albert King, who died in 1992 aged 69.

"The blues is in every undercurrent of the music that I play ... Albert is forever embedded in that music," Mayer said.

Seattle rockers Heart, fronted by sister duo Nancy and Ann Wilson, were inducted by Chris Cornell and performed their hits "Barracuda" and "Butterfly".

"Equality is coming right along. For us, music is the real church, it's a life calling, it's bigger than men and women put together, music makes us all equal and human," Nancy said.

Canadian progressive rockers Rush had the largest number of fans in the Nokia theater, receiving rousing standing ovations as they were inducted by Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins.

The night's longest speech went to Public Enemy's eccentric rapper Flavor Flav, who giggled and rambled as he talked about the influence of his group's music.

Public Enemy - comprising rappers Flavor Flav, Chuck D, Professor Griff and DJ Lord - were influential in bringing a political and social conscience to hip hop in the 1980s.

"We all come from the damn blues. Let's not get it twisted. We studied the forms of music in DJ culture ... we've always known and paid respect to where music comes from," Chuck D said.

The hip hop collective also sampled music from Summer, Jones and Rush as they performed their tracks "Bring The Noise", "911 is a Joke" and the seminal "Fight The Power".

To be eligible for induction in 2013, a candidate must have released their debut album or single at least 25 years earlier. The ceremony will be televised on HBO on May 18.

The eight inductees were chosen by some 500 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which includes past inductees and for the first time, allowed fans to vote.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Elaine Lies and Pravin Char)

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