Danny Puff

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian will not be returning to "The X Factor" after just one season as co-host of the TV talent show.

Fox television on Monday announced that presenter and actor Mario Lopez would return for a second season but the statement made no mention of Kardashian.

An "X Factor" spokesman said Kardashian, 28, who with her California socialite sisters Kim and Kourtney rose to fame in "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," would not be returning when the U.S. version of the singing competition returns in September.

"We really enjoyed working with her and wish her all the best in the future," the spokesman said.

Kardashian, one of the most popular faces on U.S. television, was brought in by "X Factor" creator Simon Cowell last year as part of a revamp that included the hiring of singers Britney Spears and Demi Lovato as judges after a disappointing first season in 2011.

A source close to the show said Kardashian, who had no previous experience as a TV host, was not asked to renew her contract.

Spears quit after one season and her replacement has yet to be named but Lovato will be back in September.

Kardashian married basketball player Lamar Odom in 2009, and the pair got their own spinoff show. She has more than 8 million followers on Twitter and has been in the news for several months over the couple's efforts to have a baby.

Lopez, a former actor, is the co-host of entertainment magazine show "Extra" and radio show "On with Mario Lopez." He is also an author of several fitness books.

"I'm thrilled Mario is back for Season Three of 'The X Factor,'" Cowell said in a statement. "Hosting a live show and keeping the judges - especially Demi - in line, is not an easy job, but Mario is a pro and we are glad he's coming back."

Fox is a unit of News Corp

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Read More

NEW DELHI (AP) "Life of Pi" actor Suraj Sharma credits director Ang Lee with setting him on a path to continue with a career in movies.

Sharma told The Times of India in an interview published Tuesday that getting to work with the Oscar-winning director on "Life of Pi" was a blessing.

"The amount I learned and did was awesome. Ang gave me a path. Before that, I didn't even know what I would do in life," he was quoted as saying. After making the movie, "I know I want to tell stories," he said.

"I don't know whether I just want to act or be behind the camera, holding the camera or just being the boom director. But I want to be on the sets. It has to be something to do with cinema," he said.

Sharma, 20, said his next Hollywood film will be "Million Dollar Arm." The film revolves around a real-life reality show that searched for potential Major League Baseball pitchers among Indian cricketers.

Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry, Britain's third in line to the throne, will take part in a race to the South Pole alongside wounded British servicemen and women, he announced on Friday.

The 208-mile (335-km) trek to the South Pole will see Britain's Royal compete against teams from the United States and Commonwealth countries.

"As a member of the British team, I will have a brew (tea) on ready for you when you join us at the Pole," he said in a speech, referring to participants from other countries.

Harry took part in a 2011 expedition to the North Pole organized by the same charity. Describing qualities he said he admired in his fellow participants, he said: "Physical strength, endurance, a sense of comradeship, absolutely.

"But there's something else, something deeper than that. Something that continues to draw me back to this charity and these people time and again - and always will."

(Reporting By Costas Pitas; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Read More

SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Display Co Ltd reported its smallest profit since it returned to the black in the second quarter of last year, as demand for iPhone and iPad screens from Apple weakened amid concerns the U.S. company is losing its luster in the mobile device market.

Apple Inc, which analysts say provides about 30 percent of LG Display's revenue, is facing intensifying competition from Samsung and up-and-coming rivals. A disappointing forecast by a U.S. supplier to Apple last week heightened fears about slowing demand for the iPhone and iPad, pushing shares of Asian suppliers including LG Display sharply lower.

LG Display, which vies with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's panel unit for the top position in LCD flat screens globally, made 151 billion won ($135 million) in operating profit in its January-March first quarter. That compared with the average forecast of a 147 billion won profit in a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.

It was the South Korean company's fourth straight quarterly profit after seven straight quarters of losses, as makers of liquid crystal display panels have since curtailed output after about two years of oversupply.

The result was also a sharp improvement from a loss of 211 billion won a year earlier. But it was down 74 percent from the previous quarter, hurt by a seasonal slowdown in demand and by weaker sales to Apple, which is scheduled to report quarterly results on Tuesday.

Sales of tablet and smartphone panels, which are largely bought by Apple, accounted for 27 percent of LG Display's total screen shipments in the first quarter, down from 31 percent in the fourth quarter.

Jay Yoo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, estimated before the results announcement that LG Display's panel shipments for the iPhone 5 and the latest iPad had fallen 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively, from the prior quarter as Apple struggles with slowing sales growth.

On Tuesday, Apple is expected to report just an 8 percent increase in revenue for its fiscal second quarter, among the weakest showings in years, according to analysts' estimates.

Still, analysts see earnings for LG Display improving in the coming quarters as Apple is expected to introduce upgraded products later this year, and as demand for mobile device screens from affiliate LG Electronics Inc increases.

Samsung Securities analyst Harrison Cho expects Apple to introduce a less costly iPhone around July, helping LG Display improve its sales to Apple from June when initial parts shipments are expected to begin.

LG Display said on Monday that it expects panel shipments will rise by 5 percent to 10 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter.

Shares in LG Display have fallen about 3 percent in the year to date, compared with a roughly 5 percent drop in the benchmark KOSPI index. The stock closed 2.2 percent higher prior to the results announcement.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Read More

LONDON (AP) Prince Harry said Friday he will take part in a race to the South Pole later this year, leading a team of wounded British military personnel against counterparts from Australia, Canada and the U.S.

In a tongue-in-cheek challenge issued at a news conference, the 28-year-old royal warned his competitors that the Brits would have some tea "ready for you when you join us at the Pole."

Harry and his fellow Walking With The Wounded teammates will participate in the 208-mile (335-kilometer) South Pole Allied Challenge in November and December of this year.

That may be the height of the Antarctic summer, but conditions will still be bitterly cold. The four-week expedition will see racers drag sleds weighing more than 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and face extreme temperatures and savage winds.

Harry has already taken part in one expedition with Walking With The Wounded, a charity which raises funds and keeps injured servicemen and women in the public eye through feats of endurance.

In 2011, he took part in the charity's North Pole trek, but had to withdraw earlier to attend his brother Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton.

During the news conference, Harry was given a red polar coat by adventurer Inge Solheim, who served as the North Pole treks' guide.

This time around Solheim will be the guide for the American team from Soldiers to Summits, which is made up of Mark Wise from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Therese Frentz, from Del Rio, Texas, Margaux Mange, from Lakewood, Colorado, and Ivan Castro, from Raeford, North Carolina.

___

Online:

http://walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/

Read More

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."

___

Online:

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

___

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

Read More

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)

Read More

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)

Read More

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.

Read More

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)

Read More