Off-stage drama dominates 'American Idol'

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Viewers are gearing up to crown the first female winner of "American Idol" in six years, but the biggest drama at the once-dominant Fox TV singing contest is taking place backstage over which of the celebrity judges will be voted off.

Audiences for what was the most-watched TV show in the United States for eight years have slumped to new lows in the current 12th season, despite the addition of singers Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban to the judging panel.

Veteran record producer Randy Jackson, the only member of the panel to have been with the show since it started in 2002, announced on Thursday that he was quitting after viewers vote for their winner next week.

Jackson's announcement came a day after entertainment website TheWrap reported that Carey, Minaj and Urban would not be asked back, along with the show's longtime executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe.

TheWrap.com said that Fox television was turning against paying huge salaries for big-name judges, only to see ratings fall.

Fox and production company FremantleMedia on Thursday declined to comment on the overhaul reported by TheWrap that have overshadowed the battle between singers Angie Miller, Candice Glover and Kree Harrison to reach the two-part finale.

Carey, one of the world's best-known recording artists, is getting a reported $17 million salary, with rapper Minaj pulling in about $12 million and country singer Urban around $7 million a year for their jobs on the contest.

Audiences for "American Idol" have fallen to around 12 million viewers per episode in recent months, compared to about 30 million during the show's heyday in 2006 and 2007.

The show is facing stiff competition from NBC rival "The Voice."

The report by TheWrap followed a story in The Hollywood Reporter last month that said producers had considered a mid-season replacement of Carey with Jennifer Lopez, who had quit the panel in 2012.

A Fox television spokeswoman termed that report "another ridiculous 'Idol' judge rumor."

DIVAS GRAB THE SPOTLIGHT

Minaj told "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest in a Thursday interview for his E! News show that she enjoyed being a judge. But she dodged the issue of whether she would be back.

"I feel happy here and I have to thank them for giving me this chance. They could have picked anyone in the world. And they picked me. So that's all I'll say about that," Minaj said.

Lyndsey Parker, managing editor of Yahoo! Music, said that Minaj had been met with a backlash from the core, middle-aged and family "Idol" audience, especially after reports last year of a feud between her and Carey.

"I think they were hoping she would bring in some kind of youthful audience but that doesn't appear to have happened," Parker told Reuters.

As for Carey, "she came to the panel with a lot more credibility than many others, but I don't think she is very good TV - a little bit low energy - and she rambles," Parker said.

The backstage drama comes in a strong season for women, with female singers dominating the final rounds for the first time in years.

On Thursday night, Seacrest will announce which contestants viewers have chosen to be in the finale in Los Angeles next Wednesday and Thursday.

Battling for the two spots are piano-playing pop singer Miller, 18, from Massachusetts; former travel agent turned powerhouse soul singer Glover, 23, from South Carolina; and 22-year-old country singer Harrison, from Texas, whose personal story and the loss of both her parents has won as many hearts as her voice.

Whoever is crowned the new "American Idol" will be the first female winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007.

Fox is a unit of NewsCorp.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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American Air says systems restored, expects more cancellations

(Reuters) - American Airlines said its computer systems were restored and flights had resumed after intermittent outages on Tuesday forced it to ground hundreds of U.S. flights, but warned travelers to expect some cancellations to continue for a second day.

American, which operates more than 3,500 daily flights worldwide, said it saw no evidence that its technical problems were related to recent events in Boston, where bombings at the finish line of the city's marathon on Monday killed three and injured many others .

The problem with the computer systems began in mid-morning and prompted American to ask the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to ground its flights until 4 p.m. CDT (5 p.m.EDT).

American, a unit of AMR Corp, said its systems were restored as of 3:30 pm CDT (2030 GMT).

"Flights have resumed, but we expect cancellations and delays throughout the remainder of the day," the carrier said in a statement.

In an updated statement the carrier said some cancellations were likely on Wednesday as well, although they would be few in number.

"Flights from our hubs and international flights having been re-started and we will reposition aircraft and crew throughout the evening," it said.

Asked if there was a safety issue involved, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said American requested the flight halt based on its operational needs. Huerta added he was not aware of any suggestion that American's computer systems had been hacked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Huerta said when asked if American's computer systems had been disabled by a cyber-attack.

Flight tracking service FlightAware said American had canceled 720 flights, including 400 at Dallas/Fort Worth and 200 at Chicago, two of its major hub cities.

At Los Angeles International Airport, another key hub, airline staff began rebooking passengers by early afternoon, airport spokeswoman Nancy S. Castles said.

Mark Duell, vice president of operations at FlightAware, said American hubs at New York's John F. Kennedy and Miami airports would also experience significant delays.

American, based in Fort Worth, Texas, said that it would provide full refunds to travelers whose plans were not flexible and added there would be no charge for changing reservations. The carrier said customers who needed to travel on Tuesday could rebook with American or another airline and it would honor any fare difference.

Other carriers have also had problems with computer reservation systems. Last year, computer outages at United Continental Holdings stranded passengers at airports around the country.

American plans to merge with rival US Airways Group later this year to form the world's biggest air carrier.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago and Thyagaraju Adinarayan in Bangalore; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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Turkish police arrest suspected killer of American tourist

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police on Sunday arrested the suspected killer of an American tourist whose body was found in Istanbul earlier this year, a provincial governor's office said.

The man, identified by the initials Z.T. and nicknamed Laz Ziya by Turkish media, was arrested in Reyhanli in Turkey's southern Hatay province near the border with Syria, the provincial governor's office said on its website.

After questioning, the man was handed over to judicial authorities, the governor's office said. It gave no further details.

The body of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, from New York, was found in the ruins of Istanbul's old city wall last month after she was reported missing in late January. Sierra, who had been travelling alone, was killed by a blow to the head.

The killing has attracted wide media attention in a country which receives millions of tourists each year and is generally seen as a safe destination for foreign travelers.

(Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Latin American pope may reverse declining Catholicism

Newly elected Pope Francis appears on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty I …

Pope Francis, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the first non-European pontiff since the eighth century, bringing a distinctly New World flavor to the Vatican that Catholics hope can reverse the decades-long trend of Latin Americans leaving the church.

Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, acknowledged how unusual his non-European origins are as he greeted thousands of faithful outside St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday night. "As you know, the duty of the conclave was to appoint a bishop of Rome. It seems to me that my brother cardinals have chosen one who is from far away, but here I am," he said shortly after his election.

Pope Francis shares his faraway home of Latin America with about 40 percent of the world's Catholics, a plurality of the world's faithful that has nonetheless eroded significantly in the past 50 years as droves of Catholics converted to evangelical Protestantism.

Roberto Blancarte, a professor at the Center of Sociological Studies at El Colegio de México, found that about 1,000 Catholics left the church every day between 2000 and 2010, adding up to a loss of 4 million congregants. Overall, Blancarte estimates that about 90 percent of Latin Americans were Catholic in 1970, compared with about 70 percent today, though the percentage varies widely by country. In the United States, the percentage of Hispanic Catholics has also been declining, but more because they are becoming more secular than converting to competing religions.

Having a Latin American pope, whose native language is Spanish, might lure back some of those Catholics to the fold.

"It could be part of an overarching process of helping to revitalize the Latin American church," said R. Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. "A lot of Latin American Catholics will feel very proud and elated that the new pope is one of theirs and his native language is their native language."

The precipitous decline in Catholic affiliation might have nudged the cardinals into selecting a non-European pope for the first time in centuries. Seventeen percent of the cardinals in the conclave were from Latin America.

"With this bleeding of members over the last half-century it made so much sense strategically to choose a Latin American. Europe is lost, the church is in a real crisis there, but Latin America still has a chance to be salvaged," Chesnut said.

Robert P. George, a Christian conservative thinker and law professor at Princeton, said the move will be interpreted by people in Latin America as a recognition "that there is a strong Catholic culture and many faithful Catholics in Latin America."

But not all experts on Catholicism agreed. Blancarte pointed out that Pope John Paul II was unable to battle the larger trend away from Catholicism despite his unprecedented attention to the region during his 26-year papacy.

"John Paul II visited almost every country in Latin America. ... He was as much Latin American as anyone can be," Blancarte said. "The fact that [Francis] is Latin American is a marginal fact."

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Did Venezuela's Chavez nudge Christ to pick South American pope?

By Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS (Reuters) - Late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez may have 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 against 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.

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

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Miami real estate revival a boon for Latin American developers

MIAMI (Reuters) - Argentine developer Jose Luis Melo watched as Miami's real estate market reeled from the U.S. housing crash and thousands of the city's condominiums sat unsold -- and decided it was time to build.

It was late 2010 and Melo, who runs the Melo Group real estate company with his two sons, bought a $1.4 million parcel of land near downtown Miami.

Months later, the Melos lifted the first construction crane in the city's post-housing bubble era, betting they could find buyers for condos in a new 17-story tower.

"People told us 'You guys are crazy. The market is awash in units and you are going to build?'" he said, adding that he preferred to sell his own new building. The building's 98 condominiums sold out in just five months.

The condos were snapped up by cash-rich Latin Americans who have flocked to Miami real estate, helping to spur an unexpected rebound in a market that only three years ago stood as a poster child of America's housing bust. The buying highlights the role investors have played in some major U.S. cities showing strong signs of a revival after the crash.

Wealthy Latin Americans have long invested in south Florida property, but this time the resurgence in Miami is getting an extra lift from South American developers like Melo.

Increasingly developers from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela are getting into the act to meet demand from Latin Americans looking for a stable place to park their money and to make extra income through rentals.

"I've never seen them with the kind of clout they are carrying right now in construction and development," said Peter Zalewski, principal of real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. "It really is a coming of age period."

Buoyed by rising property prices and increasing sales, the real estate industry in South Florida is abuzz over more than 80 announced plans for new residential projects, and Latin American developers are involved in nearly one-third of them, according to Zalewski.

The developers are capitalizing on Latin Americans' long held view of Miami real estate as a safe haven against political and economic volatility at home. The Latin-flavored city, where Spanish is widely spoken, is a popular shopping destination and vacation playground.

Recent currency devaluations in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela and fears that currencies in those countries may continue to weaken are driving the property buying, brokers say.

In 2012, Venezuelans worried about an inflation-wracked economy, soaring crime and political uncertainty at home, led all foreign buyers in Miami for a third straight year, accounting for 15 percent all sales. They were followed by Argentines and Brazilians.

A sharp increase in real estate prices in Latin America has also made Miami property more attractive. According to the real estate website Zillow, Miami property values are nearly 50 percent off their 2006 peak.

The increased presence of Latin American developers also reflects how their region has benefited from a healthy stretch of economic growth and has given them an unprecedented opportunity to look beyond their own borders to build.

"Before, we were more isolated and looking inward. Now we've started to think more globally," said Eduardo Constantini, head of Consultatio, a major Argentine real estate developer and financial firm.

Like many other developers, Consultatio saw opportunity in Miami's housing downturn and took advantage of a sharp drop in prices to pick up one of two sites it is now developing.

The group paid $80 million in 2009 for a waterfront site in Key Biscayne, one of Miami's most exclusive areas, where construction is well underway on a luxury, 154-unit condominium twin-tower with prices that start at more than a $1 million.

Consultatio bought another piece of prime beachfront property last year for $220 million in Miami Beach's tony Bal Harbour neighborhood in one of south Florida's biggest Miami land sale deals in 2012.

Other companies, lured by fire-sale prices in Miami's slump, seized on opportunities in commercial real estate.

Mexican developer Agave Holdings, which is affiliated with tequila producer Jose Cuervo, started looking at Miami during the U.S. downturn after deciding it wanted to diversify its real estate holdings outside of Mexico.

"After the housing crisis, there was a great opportunity to find good prices," said Jose Antonio Perez, managing director for Agave Holdings.

The company purchased an office building in 2009 that once belonged to the Exxon Mobil Corporation in Miami's affluent Coral Gables neighborhood. It then invested more than $150 million to renovate the property, called 396 Alhambra, which today is home to offices for HBO Latin America and spirits company Diageo.

But it is the residential market where many Latin American developers have focused their attention as interest from international buyers, particularly South Americans, has helped sales and prices recover.

Overall, U.S. real estate has benefited from an increase in buying from foreign investors, who have focused heavily on the New York and Miami markets.

In a recent report from Christie's International Real Estate, Miami was listed as eighth among the top 10 luxury real estate markets in the world, with London, New York and the French Riviera in the top three spots.

Several of the new Latin American projects rank among Miami's most ambitious.

Argentine developer and hotelier Alan Faena is leading a $550 million project in Miami Beach to build what is being billed as the Faena District.

Faena helped transform the Puerto Madero riverfront neighborhood in his native Buenos Aires, converting a series of rundown buildings, including an old mill, into a luxury enclave of fine dining anchored by a five-star hotel, an arts center and apartment buildings.

Backed by Russian-born billionaire investor Len Blavatnik, Faena's Miami beachfront development involves renovating an iconic Miami Beach hotel, the Saxony, and building a cultural center and theater.

Faena, whose Puerto Madero project was built with a vision of Latin luxury, hopes the Miami project will help establish him as an international property developer.

Miami is "our entryway to the North - it was a natural location for the first phase of the international expansion of Faena," he said.

With Latin American and non-U.S. buyers now representing a majority of real estate sales in Miami, many developers have unveiled a more cash-focused financing strategy familiar to foreign buyers.

That has given an edge to some Latin American developers over domestic builders.

"It's Latin American developers building for Latin American investors," said Zalewski.

It means buyers must pay up as much as 80 percent of the cost of a property before it is completed - something unheard of for most Americans buying a home.

Melo, whose company is now based in Miami, claimed credit for being the first developer to implement the pay model, saying when Miami's market imploded and financing tightened, he thought back to his days as a developer in Argentina.

"I thought why not sell them the way I used to back home," he said. "Now everybody is copying me."

(Editing by David Adams and Leslie Gevirtz)

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