Danny Puff

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is likely to send weaponry like rocket-propelled grenades and mortars to Syria's rebels after President Barack Obama approved arming the insurgents, sources said on Friday.

A source in the Middle East who is familiar with U.S. dealings with the rebels told Reuters that weapon supplies would include automatic weapons, light mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, known as RPGs.

Accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of using chemical weapons, the White House said on Thursday the United States would supply direct military assistance to the rebels. A U.S. official said that meant sending them weapons supplies for the first time.

Two European security sources said the United States would increase the caliber of the arms and ammunition being supplied to the rebels by regional powers including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as supply some heavier weapons, including RPGs.

More RPGs would give the rebels, who have lost ground to government forces and Lebanese Hezbollah militants in recent weeks, greater ability to fight government armored vehicles and even tanks.

But a U.S. official who has been briefed on the new policy said he did not expect the new U.S. aid to seriously affect the course of events in Syria.

All three sources said there were no plans to send shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles, known as MANPADS, to the mostly Sunni rebels fighting Assad and his Lebanese Hezbollah Shi'ite allies.

The first military supplies - to be sent to groups under rebel commander Salim Idriss that are vetted by Washington and its allies - could take a minimum of two to three weeks to be delivered.

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes refused to say on Friday how Washington would arm the rebels.

"I'm not going to get into kind of a detailed description of different types of assistance," he told a briefing in the White House.

Aid to the rebels will most likely go through Turkey, where the United States is involved in a secret base that Turkey set up with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to direct military and communications aid to Syria's armed opposition. U.S. aid could also go through Jordan where several thousand U.S. troops are on a joint exercise. A further 200 soldiers from the U.S. Army's First Division are also there.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

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NEW YORK (AP) Private investigators found that CBS News Washington reporter Sharyl Attkisson's computer was tampered with multiple times late last year, the network said Friday.

CBS said an intruder, working remotely using Attkisson's accounts, executed commands involving the search and filtering of data. The network said it is taking further steps to identify the intruder and how that person gained access to her computer.

CBS hired a cybersecurity firm to conduct the analysis. Attkisson, an investigative reporter who has worked at CBS since 1995, said three weeks ago that she thought someone had tampered with her computers.

In an interview with Philadelphia's WPHT radio on May 21, Attkisson said "there could be some relationship" between what has happened to her and to James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News Channel. In what appeared to be a leak investigation, law enforcement officials obtained a search warrant to obtain some of Rosen's private emails and tracked his comings and goings from the State Department.

Attkisson said she had been having problems with a computer in her house since at least February 2011. At that time, she said, she was investigating the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling sting operation and stimulus spending on clean-energy projects. Attkisson won an Emmy award for her "Fast and Furious" investigation.

In another leak probe, prosecutors secretly subpoenaed phone records from The Associated Press.

In its analysis, the cybersecurity firm said that whoever tampered with Attkisson's computer "used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion."

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NEW YORK (AP) Sting performed in honor of Elton John, Billy Joel sang snippets of Foreigner's hits when introducing the band and Smokey Robinson debuted part of a new song he wrote about Berry Gordy.

The 44th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony was full of star power that included Alison Krauss, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Nickelback, Petula Clark, Wiz Khalifa, Jordin Sparks and a video message from Bill Clinton.

Tyler, Perry, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Holly Knight, JD Souther and Tony Hatch were inducted Thursday into the Songwriters Hall 2013 class in New York City.

John and writing partner Bernie Taupin received the Johnny Mercer award, and Sting kicked off the night with a performance of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting." Sting also called John and Taupin "my two heroes."

John, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall in 1992, said songwriting is often taken for granted.

"I don't mean this lightly, but when you get an Ivor Novello award or an American songwriter's award, it means so much more than a Grammy because this is where the whole process starts," he said.

John also used the stage to try to clear his differences with Joel.

"I didn't see you tonight Mr. Joel, but I want to see you," he said.

Joel responded later when he was onstage with light jokes.

"Is Elton still here by the way?" he asked. "Anyway, we're OK. Call me. It's the same phone number."

Joel introduced Jones and Gramm, who gave the night's most rousing performance when they sang the Foreigner hits "Juke Box Hero" and "I Want to Know What Love Is," which had the crowd singing along, standing and swaying side-to-side at the black tie event. Foreigner also got a boost thanks to The Anthony Morgan's Inspirational Choir of Harlem.

Petula Clark also stunned with her performance of "Downtown," which Hatch wrote and produced in 1964. Hatch, too, was entertaining on the piano as he sang a medley of tunes he wrote, including Clark's "My Love" and Bobby Rydell's "Forget Him."

Hatch also provided the laughs after thanking Universal Music, who owns his publishing.

"I hope that plug will get me more royalties in the future," he said. "I'm still under those 1966 contracts."

Nickelback was impressive with their rendition of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," which was followed with the rock icons singing "Walk This Way."

Krauss was soft when she sang for Souther, and Patty Smyth was a firecracker when she performed "The Warrior" in honor of Knight, who has written hits for Tina Turner and Pat Benatar.

"I want to dedicate this to all of my exes," Knight said before singing "Love Is a Battlefield" on piano.

Robinson, who gave a lengthy, 15-minute introduction to Gordy, said he was recovering from inflamed vocal cords and hadn't performed in two months. Then he sang part of a new song he wrote about his relationship with Gordy, who he called his mentor, brother, sometimes dad and best friend.

"Did you know all the joy you'd be bringing," he sang. Some of the cast of "Motown: The Musical" followed with a medley of classics.

Benny Blanco, the 25-year-old who has co-written No. 1 hits for Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Ke$ha, earned the Hal David Starlight award.

"They picked the wrong person," said Blanco, who has also worked with Khalifa, Nicki Minaj and Bruno Mars. "I'm in a room with people I should probably be serving food to."

The event also featured a video from Clinton, who spoke about the significance of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" during the Civil Rights Movement. The song, performed by Jordin Sparks, was honored with the towering song award.

The night also paid tribute to Hal David, who died last year, and Phil Ramone, who died in March.

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Online:

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NEW YORK (AP) Sarah Palin is rejoining Fox News Channel as an analyst less than half a year after they decided to part ways.

The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate has signed on as a contributor to Fox and the Fox Business Network, it was announced on Thursday. Her first appearance back will be Monday on the morning show "Fox & Friends."

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said he's had several conversations with Palin over the past few weeks about her returning.

"I have great confidence in her and am pleased that she will once again add her commentary to our programming," Ailes said. "I hope she continues to speak her mind."

Palin said that "the power of Fox News is unparalleled. The role of Fox News in the important debates in our world is indispensable."

Palin joined Fox with great fanfare in 2010, when she was being talked about as a 2012 presidential contender. She signed for a reported $1 million a year; terms of her new contract were not disclosed, but it is unlikely to be that lucrative.

There were signs of some tension in Fox's relationship with Palin and questions about how she prepared for many of her segments. Palin announced she would not be a candidate in 2012 on a conservative radio show, which didn't please the television network paying her to be a contributor. Palin was overshadowed at Fox during the 2012 campaign by analyst Karl Rove.

But Fox stayed publicly positive when her departure was announced in January, with network executive Bill Shine saying that "we have thoroughly enjoyed our association" with her.

For the second time in a year, Palin will be used as ammunition in a television morning show competition. Her return on Monday is an attention-getting event that will come during the time slot that CNN is debuting its new morning show.

Last year, Palin was a one-day guest host on NBC's "Today" show when it was locked in a fierce ratings struggle with ABC's "Good Morning America," and that appearance enabled NBC to win that week in the ratings.

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By Constance Watson

LONDON (Reuters) - Forget abandoning carbohydrates or detoxing. The new dieting craze sweeping Britain and taking off in the United States lets people eat whatever they like - but only five days a week.

"The Fast Diet", also known as the 5:2 diet, is the brainchild of TV medical journalist Michael Mosley and journalist Mimi Spencer and allows people to eat what they want for five days but only eat 600 calories a day on the other two.

Their book, "The Fast Diet", has topped bestselling book lists in Britain and the United States this year and been reprinted more than a dozen times.

Mosley said the diet is based on work by British and U.S. scientists who found intermittent fasting helped people lose more fat, increase insulin sensitivity and cut cholesterol which should mean reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes.

He tried this eating regime for a BBC television science program called "Eat, Fast, Live Longer" last August after finding out his cholesterol level was too high and his blood sugar in the diabetic range. He was stunned by the results.

"I started doing intermittent fasting a year ago, lost 8 kgs (18 pounds) of fat over 3 months and my blood results went back to normal," Mosley told Reuters.

Mosley said he had been amazed at the way the diet had taken off with a list of websites set up by followers of the 5:2 diet or variations of the eating regime to share their experiences.

Following the success of "The Fast Diet", Spencer joined forces with dietitian Sarah Schenker to bring out "The Fast Diet Recipe Book" in April which has topped amazon.co.uk's food and drink list with 150 recipes containing under 300 calories.

Eating a 600 calorie daily diet - about a quarter of a normal healthy adult's intake - could consist of two eggs for breakfast, grilled chicken and lettuce for lunch, and fish with rice noodles for dinner with nothing to drink but water, black coffee or tea.

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Mosley put the diet's success down to the fact it is psychologically attractive and leads to steady drop in weight with an average weekly loss of 1 pound (0.46kg) for women and slightly more for men.

"The problem with standard diets is that you feel like you are constantly having to exercise restraint and that means you are thinking about food all the time, which becomes self-defeating," said Mosley.

"On this regime you are only really on a diet two days a week. It is also extremely flexible and simple."

Britain's National Health Service (NHS) initially expressed doubts about the diet and its longterm effects, saying side effects could include sleeping difficulties, bad breath, irritability, anxiety, and daytime sleepiness.

But as the popularity of the 5:2 diet has grown and become one of the most searched diets on the Internet, the NHS has started to look again at the diet and its effects.

On its website last month the NHS said the British Dietetic Association (BDA) reviewed a 2011 study by researchers at the UK's University Hospital of South Manchester that suggested intermittent fasting could help lower the risk of certain obesity-related cancers such as breast cancer.

"The increasing popularity of the 5:2 diet should lead to further research of this kind," the BDA said in a statement.

Schenker, a sports and media dietitian who works with football clubs and food companies, said it was a shame that the NHS had criticized the eating regime that had proved such a success with so many people.

"We are in the midst of an obesity crisis and you need to balance up which is worse - intermittent fasting of staying obese?" Schenker told Reuters.

Despite concerns raised by the NHS, the 5:2 diet has been widely praised by those who follow it.

Deb Thomas, 50, a management coach from London, said she has followed the diet for six months and dropped a couple of dress sizes. This has also inspired her husband to join her in fasting two days a week.

"It is such an easy diet to follow that fits into my way of life," Thomas said. "You have a tough day of not eating but you know the next day you can eat normally again, and that keeps you going."

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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MANCHESTER, Tenn. (AP) Mumford & Sons has canceled its headlining performance at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee.

The decision comes after bassist Ted Dwane received treatment this week for a blood clot on his brain.

The band made the announcement on its Facebook page.

The band postponed three shows earlier this week after the blood clot was discovered, but hoped to play Bonnaroo on Saturday night.

There is no word on what act will replace Mumford & Sons in the headlining slot in front of 80,000 fans.

Dwane is recovering from the procedure and was not ready to play Saturday.

Rather than perform with a replacement, the London-based Grammy-award-winning folk rock band decided to pull out.

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Online: http://mumfordandsons.com/

Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott

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Alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden claimed today to have evidence that the U.S. government has been hacking into Chinese computer networks since at least 2009 an effort he said is part of the tens of thousands of hacking operations American cyber spies have launched around the world, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.

The newspaper, the South China Morning Post, reported it had conducted a lengthy interview with the 29-year-old former NSA contractor, who is hiding out in Hong Kong after revealing himself to be the source of a series of headline-grabbing stories about the National Security Agency's secret, vast surveillance programs. After their unveiling, those programs were acknowledged and defended by top Obama administration officials.

The Post said Snowden provided documents, which the paper described as "unverified," that he said showed U.S. cyber operations targeting a Hong Kong university, public officials and students in the Chinese city. The paper said the documents also indicate hacking attacks targeting mainland Chinese targets, but did not reveal information about Chinese military systems.

Snowden, a civilian contractor who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii before his flight to Hong Kong, said he believed that overall the NSA had launched more than 61,000 hacking operations globally, including attempts to spy on hundreds of targets in Hong Kong and in mainland China.

"We hack network backbones -- like huge internet routers, basically -- that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one," Snowden said, according to the paper. "Last week the American government happily operated in the shadows with no respect for the consent of the governed, but no longer."

Snowden told the paper he was releasing the new information to show the "hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it claims that it does not target civilian infrastructure, unlike its adversaries."

As U.S. officials said the Justice Department is preparing to bring charges against Snowden for the NSA leaks, Snowden said he has no plans to leave Hong Kong even though that country has an extradition treaty with the U.S.

"People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions," he said. "I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."

As the South China Morning Post published its reports on Snowden, America's top cyber officials appeared before a Congressional committee to discuss American offensive and defensive cyber operations, including those recently revealed by The Guardian and The Washington Post apparently based on information from Snowden.

Previously, top U.S. officials have blamed the Chinese government for being behind "persistent" -- and somewhat successful -- attempts to hack into American government and private networks. In return, Chinese officials recently said their government has "mountains of data" pointing to the U.S. hacking them.

Last week, President Obama signed a directive calling for government cyber tools to be "integrated with the full array of national security tools we have at our disposal," according to The Associated Press. That statement was made after British newspaper The Guardian revealed the directive -- allegedly one of many tips that came from Snowden before he stepped from the shadows.

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SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) The mother of a gunman who fatally shot five people in Santa Monica once said the shooter's father had threatened to kill her at least twice during years of turmoil in the family, according to court records obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

"'If I had a gun it would be over,'" Randa Abdou quoted her husband in a 1998 document seeking a temporary restraining order.

The mother of John Zawahri also said her husband had threatened to take their two young sons to Canada after the couple separated, and that he once punched her and stole her jewelry, purse, and unfiled divorce papers.

Authorities said the gunman, John Zawahri, 23, shot his 55-year-old father, Samir Zawahri, and his 25-year-old brother, Christopher Zawahri, on Friday, leaving their home in flames before shooting at strangers in cars and on the Santa Monica College campus during a 15-minute rampage.

The former student at the school was heavily armed and carried a duffel bag with 1,300 rounds of ammunition when officers killed him in the campus library.

Randa Abdou cut short a visit with family in Lebanon to return to Los Angeles on Sunday and had spoken with investigators who hoped she could provide clues to what sparked the violence.

Neighbor Beverly Meadows said she spoke with Abdou on the phone on Monday and was told Abdou was in mourning and concerned about those who were hurt.

"She is very, very fragile right now, and at this point in time, everybody else is gone," Meadows said.

Abdou has not spoken to the media.

"Please respect the fact that this woman is devastated," Meadows said. "She is absolutely overwhelmed and she doesn't know how to process it. She sounds like she's done nothing but cry. ... She still feels like maybe she should have done something."

Santa Monica College reopened on Monday for final exams and for students to recover backpacks, cars and other items left behind when they fled the violence. Extra security and counselors were on hand but the library where Zawahri was shot by police remained closed.

Zawahri enrolled at Santa Monica College in winter 2009 and last attended in fall 2010, sporadically taking classes in the entertainment technology program, which involves game design, animation and computer skills for digital media, the college said.

A statement said the college had no disciplinary issues with Zawahri.

Zawahri killed his father and brother at a home near the campus then opened fire on strangers as he made his way to the college, where police fatally shot him in the library.

Investigators were still trying to determine what prompted the attack and if it might have involved some type of mental illness.

Zawahri's parents married in 1985, and his father brought his family to the neighborhood of small homes and apartment buildings tucked up against Interstate 10 in the mid-1990s, according to property records.

When Zawahri was 9, his now-separated mother sought the restraining order.

In the 1998 document, Abdou said she left Lebanon and joined her husband in the U.S. five years after their wedding, and the couple "have had marital troubles ever since."

Her estranged husband had been "verbally abusive and controlling," she stated, adding that she was afraid he might do something "drastic because he seems to become increasingly angry and frustrated over our separation."

Abdou said her husband has "followed me, struck me, taken the children without telling me, and entered my apartment without my permission and removed photographs."

He once came to the apartment and told her that he was going to take the children to Canada, she said.

"The defendant said that he would do anything to make my life miserable and that he could kill me and no restraining order can stop him," she said.

Her husband waited for her at work once, and when she pulled up in a car with a friend, he struck her in the arm, pulled her hair, took gold bracelets, her purse and unfiled divorce papers, she said.

She was afraid to press charges, she added, because he scared her and she didn't want to enrage him further. "The defendant has told me that life means nothing to him if we are not together," she said.

Abdou asked the court to order the return of her property, including her green card, and to grant her custody of the couple's two sons pending a court hearing.

However, her request for a restraining order was dismissed when she missed the hearing.

She wrote that she was afraid to notify him of the restraining order, saying "I do not know how he would react to the notice."

Court records indicated that Samir Zawahri filed for divorce in 1993, but it was never finalized.

Five years later, when Abdou filed court papers for the restraining order, she noted that no divorce was pending, but she indicated that she had been in the process of filling out divorce papers. It's unclear if the couple ever divorced.

Public records show that Abdou had sold her portion of the family home to Samir Zawahri in 2002. The sale was finalized the following year.

Thomas O'Rourke, a neighbor of Samir Zawahri, said the couple did divorce, with one son living with each parent.

A candlelight vigil for victims was planned Monday evening outside the library.

Earlier, campus police Chief Albert Vasquez identified a woman fatally shot outside the library as Margarita Gomez, 68, of Santa Monica, a non-student who was known for collecting recyclables at the site.

Kelly Williams, 19, said she was nervous about coming to campus to take a psychology final but felt better once she saw a police car parked outside.

"It's kind of scary because it just happened and you don't know if it will happen again," she said.

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Associated Press writers Anthony McCartney and Robert Jablon contributed to this story.

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Microsoft has its head in the cloud with Xbox One.

The company focused on how cloud computing will make games for its next-generation Xbox One console more immersive during its Monday presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's annual trade show. Microsoft announced last week that the successor to the Xbox 360 must be connected to the Internet every 24 hours to operate, and the system would ideally always be online.

"The platform features and capabilities exclusive to Xbox One allow developers to push the boundaries of creativity and take gaming in completely new directions," Microsoft Vice President Phil Harrison told the crowd at University of Southern California's Galen Center.

The upcoming console's cloud computing capabilities were demonstrated by fleshing out dense environments in third-person open-world games like the zombie-fighting sequel "Dead Rising 3" and cartoony shooter "Sunset Overdrive." The racing simulator "Forza MotorSport 5" introduced a feature called "drivatar," which mimics players' driving styles and allows their "drivatars" to play for them offline.

"There's ability to put things in the cloud that you want to have computed, so you can take some of the computing capability that you might require locally or used to require locally and then have CPUs in the cloud that actually do some background work for the game," explained Phil Spencer, Microsoft Studios' vice president. "You're actually augmenting the power of the box that's sitting right in your living room."

Microsoft revealed the console, which it has billed as an "all-in-one" entertainment solution for living rooms, will be released in November and cost $499. The company debuted the console earlier this year at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash. The initial reactions to the device have been mixed.

Other games coming to Xbox One include the historical third-person game "Ryse: Son of Rome," hard-knuckled brawler "Killer Instinct," a bigger edition of "Minecraft," terra-forming simulator "Project Spark" and a new installment of the sci-fi shooter series "Halo."

Monday's flashy event concluded with the debut of the mech-heavy multiplayer shooter "Titanfall," the first game from Respawn Entertainment, which was founded by "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" creators Vince Zampella and Jason West.

The company said it was doing away with its Microsoft points system for online purchases with its Xbox Live online service, opting instead for local currency.

Microsoft didn't address concerns at Monday's event over connectivity, used games and privacy issues with the Xbox One, which will feature a new version of its camera-based Kinect sensor. In a blog post on Microsoft's site Thursday ahead of E3, the company outlined more details about the console, including restrictions on how previously played or used games could be shared and how frequently the Xbox One must be online.

"For people who are in a completely disconnected state, I think (Xbox) 360 is definitely a great content base for them and a great console, and we'll continue to invest in that," Spencer said after the event.

Microsoft Corp. kicked off Monday's presentation by revealing the Xbox 360 is getting a makeover with a design inspired by the Xbox One.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's vice president of marketing and strategy, said the updated Xbox 360 is "smaller, sleeker and as quiet as ever." He added it would be available beginning Monday.

The company boasted that hundreds of new games are still coming to Xbox 360, which was originally released eight years ago as the high-definition successor to the Xbox. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has outsold rivals like the Wii and PlayStation 3 from Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp. for the past two years. It has sold more than 76 million Xbox 360 units.

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AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson contributed to this report. Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang .

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Online:

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Apple is throwing out most of the real-world graphical cues from its iPhone and iPad software, like the casino-green "felt" of its Game Center app, in what it calls the biggest update since the iPhone's launch in 2007.

The new operating system, called iOS 7, strives for a clean, simple, translucent look. Apple is redesigning all its applications and icons to conform to the new look, driven by long-time hardware design chief Jony Ive.

Apple demonstrated the new software at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday. The new design direction was widely expected and will show up on iPhones, iPad and iPod Touches this fall, the company said.

The software strives for a multi-layered look, with translucent panels. On the main screen, the background image moves subtly with the movement of the phone, creating an illusion of depth. Other screens are padded out with plenty of white space.

The software has "a whole new structure that is coherent and is applied across the entire system," Ive said in a recorded presentation. "The design recedes, and in doing so, elevates your content."

While design modifications could help Apple distinguish its devices from rival phones and tablets, they risk alienating longtime users.

Microsoft's radical makeover of the Windows operating system in October was meant to give the company a stronger presence on tablet computers, but it ended up confusing many people who had become accustomed to using the old operating system on traditional desktops and laptops. Research firm IDC blamed Windows 8 for accelerating a decline in PC sales.

Among other changes, Apple's new iOS system will update apps automatically. It will store Web passwords online in Apple's syncing service, iCloud, making them available across devices. The AirDrop feature will allow sharing of big files with Apple-equipped people in the same room.

Apple took a jab at its rival, Samsung Electronics Co., which had been touting its Galaxy phones as better than iPhones because they sport near-field communication chips that allow people to share files by bumping phones together.

"No need to wander around the room bumping your phone with others," said Craig Federighi, senior vice president for software engineering.

The company also stepped up its rivalry with Google, maker of the Android software on Samsung and other phones. Apple said the Siri virtual assistant will use searches from Microsoft's Bing, Google's rival. Apple also is bringing its mapping service to desktops and laptops to compete with Google Maps and others.

The Cupertino, Calif., company is also launching a Pandora-like Internet radio service, iTunes Radio. It will be built into the Music app and stream music for free. There will be advertising, except for people who pay $25 a year for the iTunes Match online music storage.

Apple was a pioneer of online music sales and is still a leader in that field, but streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify have emerged as popular alternatives to buying. Pandora relies on its users being connected to the Internet at all times and plays songs at random within certain genres for free.

Last month, rival Google Inc. started an on-demand subscription music service called All Access that gives subscribers the ability to pick and choose specific songs and albums from a catalog of millions for playback on computers, tablets and smartphones in exchange for a monthly fee.

Apple updates its iOS operating system every year and doesn't charge for the updates. The new operating system will be available for the iPhone 4 and later models, and on the iPad 2 and later models, including the Mini. The launch of the new software traditionally coincides roughly with the launch of the year's new iPhone model.

Also at the conference, which runs through Friday, Apple revealed that it's switching from its more than decade-long practice of naming its Mac operating system updates after big cats. Instead, it's paying homage to the geography of its home state. Federighi says the next version of Mac OS X will be called Mavericks, after an undersea rock formation that produces big waves near Half Moon Bay, Calif.

The new operating system will extend battery life and shorten boot-up times, Federighi told the audience of software developers. The system improves support for multiple displays and imports the tab concept from Web browsers to the Finder file-organizer.

The software update will include iBooks for the first time, giving people who buy e-books from Apple a way to display them on the computer screen in addition to the iPhone and iPad. Competing e-book vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have cross-platform applications already.

There have been nine OS X versions named after big cats. The latest was Mountain Lion, released last year.

"We do not want to be the first software release in history to be delayed by a lack of cats," Federighi joked.

He said the new software will be out in the fall.

Apple also revealed a complete revamp of the Mac Pro, the boxy desktop model that's the work horse of graphics and film professionals. The new model is a black cylinder, one eighth the volume of the old box.

The current Mac Pro is the only Mac with internal hardware that can easily be modified and expanded by the user, but that possibility disappears with the new model. The company is adopting the same compact, one-piece design present in the Mac Mini and iMac.

The new Mac Pro will be the first Mac to be assembled in the U.S. in many years. CEO Tim Cook promised last year that the company would start a production line in the U.S., but didn't say where. Apple said the new computer will launch later this year.

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Peter Svensson reported from New York.

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Online:

Apple: http://www.apple.com

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