Police in Ohio have filed an aggravated murder charge against a 20-year-old man accused of killing his fiancée’s mother late last month, PEOPLE confirms.

 Jeffrey Scullin Jr., who had been engaged to the daughter of sixth-grade teacher Melinda Pleskovic, was arrested on Tuesday by Strongsville police. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

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 Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender announced the arrest during a news conference held hours after Scullin was taken into custody.

 Pleskovic, 49, was found dead inside her home on Oct. 23. She’d been stabbed and shot.

 In a strange development, Sculllin was one of the two people to call 911 to report his future mother-in-law’s death.

 Chief Fender told reporters that Pleskovic’s husband, Bruce Pleskovic, called 911 that Monday after returning to his home with Scullin to find Melinda on the floor in a pool of blood.

 “I think my wife is dead,” he told a dispatcher.

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 Jeffrey Scullin Jr. Strongsville Police Department

 Melinda Pleskovic Facebook

 During the call, Bruce said that there had been break-ins at their home in recent weeks, most recently the Thursday before Melinda’s killing.

 But police suspect he was acting under information given to him by Scullin — the only person, they say, who had reported seeing people attempting to illegally enter the residence.

 Scullin, who had also been living at the Pleskovics’ home, told the 911 operator in his own call that he saw no signs of a break-in, according to audio of the call obtained by PEOPLE. He said that the doors to the home had been locked.

 “We just came home. She’s on the kitchen floor,” he said. “I took her son and my daughter outside. Her husband is inside with her now.”

 “We found her in the kitchen. She’s not moving,” he continued.

 Asked by the dispatcher if it appeared Melinda had been beaten, Scullin said, “She has blood all around her. I didn’t look. I just grabbed the child and left. There’s a lot of blood.”

 A possible motive and further details about how the crime were committed have not been released.

 Scullin has not yet entered a plea, and it was unclear Thursday if he’s retained legal counsel who could comment on his behalf.

 He and Melinda’s daughter were set to marry last weekend. Instead, they spent the day at her funeral where he reportedly served as a pallbearer. ||||| Melinda was a beloved figure in the community. She was a mother of three children and a sixth grade teacher who taught at Strongsville City Schools for more than 20 years. ||||| The blood of Strongsville school teacher Melinda Pleskovic was found on the blade of a knife located in a pickup truck driven by her daughter's fiance, court records show.

 In addition, police say Jeffrey Scullin's DNA was found on the knife handle and that more blood was found on a passenger side door. Police describe the knife as a 'large, tactical' weapon.

 Scullin, 20, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on charges of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, making false alarms and tampering with evidence.

 He is being held under a $1 million bond.

 The court document filed by Strongsville police investigators is the first true glimpse of how Scullin came to emerge as a suspect in Pleskovic's shooting and stabbing death Oct. 23 inside her Blazing Star home.

 Scullin, who lived with Pleskovic, 49, and her husband, was set to marry the couple's daughter just days after the killing. Instead, the family held a funeral and Scullin served as a pallbearer.

 Police reports show the Pleskovics had complained for a year about pranks and break-ins at their home One attempted break-in, four days before the slaying, was reported by Scullin. The false alarm charge is connected to that burglary report, documents show.

 It was Scullin and Pleskovic's husband who called 911 after arriving home and discovering Melinda Pleskovic's body on the kitchen floor.

 Surveillance cameras were examined and confirm that the family had spent time at Applebees prior to the slaying.

 Police are also examining Scullin's cell phone as well as the phones of the Pleskovic family for possible evidence.

Summary: – A 911 caller in Ohio who told the dispatcher "there's a lot of blood" after he came across the body of his future mother-in-law is now being accused of her murder. "Jeffery William Scullin Jr. has been charged with aggravated murder," Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, which WOIO notes took place eight days after the killing of 49-year-old Melinda Pleskovic. Scullin, 20, was engaged to Pleskovic's daughter and lived in the Pleskovic home. People reports he arrived at the home with Pleskovic's husband, Bruce, on Oct. 23 to find the sixth-grade teacher's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She'd been shot and stabbed several times. Bruce Pleskovic told a 911 dispatcher there'd been recent break-ins at their home, but cops say he may have thought that based on info fed to him by Scullin. Scullin, who made a separate 911 call, told the dispatcher it didn't look like anyone had broken in. He says he grabbed his own daughter and Pleskovic's son—WKYC notes the 18-year-old has Down syndrome—and went outside without surveying the scene more carefully. Scullin was set to marry Pleskovic's daughter on the Saturday after the slaying, but instead he was said to have served as a pallbearer at her funeral. Per court records cited by WKYC, a knife with Pleskovic's blood was found in Scullin's pickup truck, among other evidence. Scullin is being held on a $1 million bond. (This man killed his mom and two brothers weeks before his planned wedding.)


Cleveland (CNN) Ted Cruz on Thursday strongly defended his refusal to endorse Donald Trump during his Republican National Convention speech, saying he's not "in the habit" of backing politicians who attack his family.

 "I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," Cruz said at a morning meeting where he faced sharp questions from the Texas delegation in Cleveland.

 Cruz stood by his decision in a remarkable 25-minute back-and-forth with his own constituents, defying appeals from his own Texas delegation to put the party above his inhibitions and back Trump.

 Cruz sensationally withheld an endorsement of Trump in his speech Wednesday, earning a chorus of boos from the floor while getting upstaged in a power play by the GOP nominee himself.

 In a dramatic development, as Cruz wrapped up his speech, Trump suddenly appeared in the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. He walked to join his family in a VIP area and flashed a thumbs-up -- a gesture that transmitted clear anger at the Texas senator's behavior.

 Cruz, his party's runner-up, uttered Trump's name just once -- to congratulate him -- and instead pitched the ideological brand of conservatism that endears him to the GOP's base.

 "I congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination last night," Cruz said. "And like each of you, I want to see the principles that our party believes prevail in November."

 JUST WATCHED Laura Ingraham scolds Trump holdouts: Honor your pledge Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Laura Ingraham scolds Trump holdouts: Honor your pledge 01:54

 But as it was clear Cruz was going to end his speech without endorsing Trump, delegates began to boo and some chanted "We want Trump!"

 "Don't stay home in November," Cruz said toward the end of his otherwise very well-received speech. "Stand and speak and vote your conscience."

 As delegates began to protest, Sen. Cruz's wife, Heidi Cruz, was heckled by Trump supporters shouting "Goldman Sachs!" and escorted out by security. Heidi Cruz, who is an employee of Goldman Sachs, declined to answer questions from reporters, saying, "I don't talk to the media, thanks."

 The stunning political theater between the top two contenders in the Republican primary race blew open divisions in the party that the convention is designed to heal, and suggested Cruz believes Trump will lose in November.

 Cruz's appearance at the Cleveland convention had been the subject of intense anticipation over his attitude toward Trump, after their intensely personal exchanges in the late stages of the primary race.

 He got a prolonged standing ovation as he walked on stage for a speech that appeared to be an attempt to establish himself as the guardian of conservative values that some activists doubt Trump shares.

 Blocked from Adelson suite

 Cruz's rebuke ignited a hot scene around the senator as soon as he left the stage. People averted their eyes from Cruz and his wife as they walked with their security detail on the skybox level of boisterous Republicans.

 On the donor suite level, people approached Cruz and insulted him, a source told CNN's Dana Bash. One state party chair reacted so angrily that they had to be restrained.

 Cruz, who has long sought the support of GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, was turned away when he tried to enter Adelson's suite.

 Andy Abboud, a senior aide to the Las Vegas casino magnate, said Cruz was initially invited to come up to visit the Adelsons, but when he failed to endorse Trump the invitation was rescinded.

 "When he didn't endorse, they were stunned and disappointed," Abboud told CNN.

 "We could not allow Ted Cruz to use the Adelsons as a prop against Donald Trump," he added. "The Adelsons support Donald Trump and made that clear. They like Ted Cruz, but there was no way the Adelsons were going to be the first stop after not endorsing. That would be disrespectful to our nominee."

 Trump did stop by the suite, and Abboud tweeted out a picture of Trump with Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson.

 The Adelson's with their choice for President! pic.twitter.com/gYsHBeT9AS — Andy Abboud (@AndyAbboud) July 21, 2016

 Trump, whose insults of Cruz were a constant on the campaign trail over the past year, tweeted that Cruz didn't honor the pledge GOP candidates had signed to back the eventual Republican nominee.

 "Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!"

 Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2016

 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- a former presidential candidate and now a Trump backer -- blasted Cruz's speech in an interview with Bash.

 "I think it was awful," Christie said. "And quite frankly, I think it was something selfish. And he signed a pledge. And it's his job to keep his word."

 Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said on CNN that "the only way to describe it is political suicide."

 A source close to Cruz said the senator wasn't shocked by the mood after the speech.

 "He expected people to not approve," the source said. "Not surprised at the reaction."

 Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who accepted the nomination as Trump's vice presidential nominee at the end of Wednesday's session, sidestepped when asked about Cruz's speech.

 "I am just grateful for all the support we are receiving and I am excited about the future," Pence said.

 JUST WATCHED Wednesday fireworks at the RNC in 90 seconds Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Wednesday fireworks at the RNC in 90 seconds 01:30

 Eric Trump's reaction: "The audience didn't seem to like it right?"

 Asked about the impact of the non-endorsement, Eric Trump responded, "I don't think it makes any difference in the world."

 Hillary Clinton's campaign seized on Cruz's speech as well, tweeting: "Vote your conscience" with a link to her website.

 Delegates unhappy as well: 'He failed the nation'

 The reaction from the floor was also swift and harsh.

 Newt Gingrich, appearing after Cruz, argued that Cruz's advocacy for constitutionalism meant that he, implicitly, endorsed Trump -- words he himself did not say.

 "So to paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution this fall, there's only one possible way and that's to vote the Trump-Pence ticket."

 Richard Black, a delegate from Virginia who chaired Cruz's campaign, said after Cruz's speech that it was "doubtful" he would support him again.

 "In the end, each individual has a duty to the nation that transcends the duty to themselves,' Black said. "That's where he failed... He failed the nation."

 Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, who backed Cruz, told CNN he was "disappointed" by Cruz' speech.

 On him saying "vote your conscience", Franks said, "for the people in this room, a vote of conscience is a Trump vote."

 Michigan GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga, a former Marco Rubio supporter, called Cruz' speech "a mistake."

 Huizenga said it was also a mistake for the Trump campaign to give Cruz a coveted prime-time speaking slot without some type of "pre-condition" that he would formally endorse Trump.

 Jonathan Barnett, a Republican national committeeman from Arkansas, walked off the floor after Cruz's speech.

 "He's self-centered. It's all about Ted Cruz. All he did is ruin his political career," Barnett said. "I think he's finished."

 Barnett said this is not the kind of grace one shows their party's nominee: "Reagan wouldn't have done that. He endorsed Ford."

 Arizona delegate Bruce Ash expressed a similar sentiment.

 "Cruz missed his moment. All he had to do was say 'Trump' and he used the dog whistle for 'conscience.' A very disappointing message," Ash texted.

 Cruz's difficult challenge

 The speech was difficult from the start: Cruz's goal was to walk a tightrope and keep alive his political viability for 2020 without alienating Trump's legion of supporters.

 JUST WATCHED Trump's plane interrupts Ted Cruz Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump's plane interrupts Ted Cruz 00:55

 It was the latter that tripped him up.

 Cruz came to the dais facing significant pressure to endorse Trump from his campaign aides and surrogates. Yet he is still at a moment of power and relevance: Only 45, a Latino senator who ended his campaign holding onto more political capital than he has ever enjoyed in his career.

 His challenge was to remain well-liked in a GOP that, at least for now, is under the control of a man Cruz has indicated that he does not respect. Cruz effectively placed a risky bet that the Republican Party will judge Trump harshly and reward him in the new era for not caving.

 "If skillfully played, his stock will rise," Randall Dunning, a Texas delegate who has misgivings about Trump, said the day before he spoke.

 Wes Brumit, a Cruz delegate from Texas, defended Cruz's non-endorsement Wednesday night.

 "He did mention all the points Trump mentioned: building a wall, fighting ISIS. He just didn't come right out and endorse," said Bumit, who sported a red "Ted Cruz for President" T-shirt and a cowboy hat. "He said everyone should be able to vote their conscience. And that's OK with me."

 JUST WATCHED Trump: Heidi the best thing Cruz has got going for him Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: Heidi the best thing Cruz has got going for him 04:28

 As for those who loudly booed Cruz? "All the boos were exactly the New York values that Ted has talked about."

 Bumit added: "I think Mr. Trump has some things to apologize for to Cruz before Sen Cruz can come onboard fully for Trump."

 But the question now is how skillful Cruz played it. If Trump loses narrowly, holdouts like Cruz could be held responsible in 2020 for not unifying the party. And it is clear there are Trump loyalists who now say they are loathe to back him.

 JUST WATCHED Trump doubles down on JFK assassination-Cruz dad link Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump doubles down on JFK assassination-Cruz dad link 01:33

 Cruz and Trump, once political allies, turned on one another as they became the top two Republicans in the race. And their tension exploded when Trump's associates fanned flames of salacious tabloid rumors about Cruz and later attacked Cruz's father.

 Since withdrawing from the race, Cruz has repeatedly declined to endorse Trump, but maintained that he could always come around to backing the Republican nominee. Yet their past tension -- and the personal attacks -- cast a cloud over any accord between the two aspirants.

 Cruz's chief strategist Jason Johnson tweeted: "Since it's obvious the shock is contrived, let me ask: What the Hell did they expect from the son of the man who killed JFK? Light'n up."

 Since it's obvious the shock is contrived, let me ask: What the Hell did they expect from the son of the man who killed JFK? Light'n up. — Jason Johnson (@jasonsjohnson) July 21, 2016

 Former Cruz aide Brian Phillips also defended the senator: "Just more proof this is about submission. We were told for months Trump didn't need Cruz, but when he doesn't endorse they go apoplectic."

 Just more proof this is about submission. We were told for months Trump didn't need Cruz, but when he doesn't endorse they go apoplectic. — Brian Phillips (@RealBPhil) July 21, 2016

 The remarkable moment at the convention was the second time Cruz was upstaged by Trump Wednesday.

 At a rally on the Cleveland waterfront, as Cruz spoke gingerly to fellow Republicans about "our nominee" and the uncertain future under his former rival, Trump's plane flew in the clear skies behind him.

 "That was pretty well orchestrated" Cruz said as the Trump-emblazoned aircraft buzzed through the air and the crowd booed.

 Turning to his campaign manager, Jeff Roe, Cruz said, "Jeff, did you email them to fly the plane right when I said that?" ||||| Tweet with a location

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Summary: – Things got ugly quickly at the Quicken Loans Arena after Ted Cruz stunned the crowd by refusing to endorse Donald Trump. Heidi Cruz "was escorted out by security as crowd gets angry," tweeted CNN's Manu Raju. Former Cruz aide Ken Cuccinelli says he helped get Heidi out of the arena because he was worried about her safety. "They were coming out of their seats, coming on down. Very inappropriate, threatening behavior," he says. Cuccinelli and Raju say audience members shouted "Goldman Sachs," the bank where Heidi works. Cruz was heavily booed during his speech, and sources tell CNN that it didn't get easier for the Texan at the donor suite level. The sources say people walked up to Cruz and insulted him to his face, and one particularly irate state GOP chairman had to be physically restrained. BuzzFeed's Rosie Gray tweeted that Washington state GOP chief Susan Hutchison has confirmed that she confronted Cruz and called him a traitor. Other sources say Cruz tried to enter the suite of megadonor Sheldon Adelson but was turned away.


BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao, who travels to Washington this week for a state visit after a year marked by disputes and tension with the United States, said the two countries could mutually benefit by finding "common ground" on issues from fighting terrorism and nuclear proliferation to cooperating on clean energy and infrastructure development.

 "There is no denying that there are some differences and sensitive issues between us," Hu said in written answers to questions from The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. "We both stand to gain from a sound China-U.S. relationship, and lose from confrontation.''

 To enhance what he called "practical cooperation" on a wide range of issues, Hu urged an increase in dialogues and exchanges and more "mutual trust." He said, "We should abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality," and, in what seemed like an implicit rejection of U.S. criticisms of China's internal affairs, said the two should "respect each other's choice of development path."

 Hu took aim at the international currency system, now dominated by the dollar, calling it a "product of the past." China has moved to make its currency, the renminbi convertible on international markets, and Hu pointed to Chinese efforts to boost its use in trade and investment. But he cautioned against any suggestion that the renminbi, also called the yuan, might soon become a new reserve currency. "It takes a long time for a country's currency to be widely accepted in the world," Hu said.

 Hu, the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party since 2002 and China's president since 2003, rarely speaks in interviews or gives news conferences. His last extensive comments to American media outlets came in 2008, in a joint meeting around the time of the Beijing Olympics. His last comments to Western media were in written format last November to a French and a Portuguese newspaper.

 Under the ground rules, Hu decided which questions to answer from lists submitted separately by the Post and the Journal.

 Hu made an official visit to the White House in 2006, but President George W. Bush denied him the privilege of a full state visit, offering only a lunch. He was in Washington in April for President Obama's nuclear security summit.

 The Obama administration plans to use the summit to refocus attention on China's record on human rights and political freedoms, after spending much of the past two years seeking to engage the Chinese leadership on a broad array of global issues including climate change, helping stabilize the global economy, and dealing with the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

 The human rights issue - which many administration critics believe was underplayed over the past two years - gained a new spotlight in October, when the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo. Also last fall, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao linked political reform to continued economic progress in a speech in Shenzhen, at the United Nations in September and later in an interview with Time magazine and CNN.

 Hu, in his written answers Sunday, said China would continue to develop "socialist democracy." His comment on the topic seemed to suggest that China's leadership at once understands the growing demand for more pluralism from its increasingly affluent citizens, while at the same time signaling that any further opening will come only within the strict confines of the current, Communist-led system.

 Political reform, Hu said, must "meet people's growing enthusiasm for participating in political affairs." But he added: "The political structuring we pursue in China is aimed at advancing the self-improvement and development of the socialist political system."

 Hu pointed to China's economic success of the past three decades as a validation of its political model. ||||| BEIJING—Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the need for cooperation with the U.S. in areas from new energy to space ahead of his visit to Washington this week, but he called the present U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" and highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency.

 Hu Goes to Washington See photos of past visits. View Slideshow Getty Images Mr. Hu arrived in the U.S. Apriul 12, 2010.

 "We both stand to gain from a sound China-U.S. relationship, and lose from confrontation," Mr. Hu said in written answers to questions from The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post .

 Mr. Hu acknowledged "some differences and sensitive issues between us," but his tone was generally compromising, and he avoided specific mention of some of the controversial issues that have dogged relations with the U.S. over the past year or so—including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan that led to a freeze in military relations between the world's sole superpower and its rising Asian rival.

 Enlarge Image Close Associated Press U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Beijing earlier this month.

 On the economic front, Mr. Hu played down one of the main U.S. arguments for why China should appreciate its currency—that it will help China tame inflation. That is likely to disappoint Washington, which accuses China of unfairly boosting its exports by undervaluing the yuan, making its products cheaper overseas. The topic is expected to be high on U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda when he meets Mr. Hu at the White House on Wednesday.

 Mr. Hu also offered a veiled criticism of efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate growth through huge bond purchases to keep down long-term interest rates, a strategy that China has loudly complained about in the past as fueling inflation in emerging economies, including its own. He said that U.S. monetary policy "has a major impact on global liquidity and capital flows and therefore, the liquidity of the U.S. dollar should be kept at a reasonable and stable level."

 Mr. Hu's responses reflect a China that has grown more confident in recent years—especially in the wake of the global financial crisis, from which it emerged relatively unscathed.

 Mr. Hu reiterated China's belief that the crisis reflected "the absence of regulation in financial innovation" and the failure of international financial institutions "to fully reflect the changing status of developing countries in the world economy and finance." He called for an international financial system that is more "fair, just, inclusive and well-managed."

 Mr. Hu, who also heads China's ruling Communist Party, rarely interacts with the international media. The Wall Street Journal submitted a series of questions to China's Foreign Ministry for Mr. Hu to answer. The Washington Post also submitted questions. The Foreign Ministry supplied Mr. Hu's responses to seven questions—but did not address questions about imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, China's growing naval power and complaints about alleged Chinese cyberattacks, among others.

 Mr. Hu's veiled criticism of the Fed reflects widespread feelings among developing nations that U.S. interest-rate policy is devaluing the dollar, prompting flows of capital overseas and creating inflation elsewhere. China and other developing countries would like the Fed to factor in those consequences when it makes decisions. Fed officials counter that their mandate is to bolster the U.S. economy and that a stronger U.S. economy is in the interests of China and other countries, which depend heavily on trade and investment from the U.S.

 This could be a major issue of contention between Messrs. Hu and Obama. The U.S. blames Chinese currency undervaluation—not Fed policy making—for worsening competitive and inflation problems overseas.

 "This is a new ballgame in the first inning," says Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer about China's rise. In an interview with WSJ's Rebecca Blumenstein, Bremmer discusses the growth of Chinese economic and military power and President Hu's U.S.visit.

 Some of Mr. Hu's most significant comments dealt with the future of the dollar and currency exchange rates.

 "The current international currency system is the product of the past," he said, noting the primacy of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency and its use in international trade and investment.

 The comment is the latest sign that the dollar's future continues to concern the most senior levels of the Chinese government. Beijing fears not only that loose U.S. monetary policy is fueling inflation, but that it will erode the value of China's holdings of dollars within its vast foreign-exchange reserves, which reached $2.85 trillion at the end of 2010.

 China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, created an international stir in March 2009 by calling for the creation of a new synthetic reserve currency as an alternative to the dollar. Mr. Hu's comments add to the sense that China intends to challenge the post-World War II financial order largely created by the U.S. and dominated by the dollar.

 Mr. Hu called attention to China's accelerating effort to expand the role of its own currency, describing recent moves to allow greater use of the yuan in cross-border trade and investment—while acknowledging that making it a fully fledged international currency "will be a fairly long process."

 China's moves already have spawned a thriving market for offshore trading of yuan in Hong Kong, and are widely seen as first steps toward making the yuan an international currency in line with China's new prominence as the world's second largest economy. Mr. Hu offered an enthusiastic endorsement of what are officially described as currency "pilot programs." They "fit in well with market demand as evidenced by the rapidly expanding scale of these transactions," he said.

 Mr. Hu didn't signal any changes on the most sensitive aspect of China's currency policy: the exchange rate.

 WSJ's Jake Lee speaks to Heard on the Street Asia Editor Mohammed Hadi about Chinese President Hu Jintao's comments on currencies, balancing the Chinese economy and China's growing clout abroad.

 Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated the U.S. position that a stronger yuan is in China's own best interests, because it would help tame rising inflation that has become a key risk to China's rapid growth, which is underpinning the global economic recovery. A stronger yuan would reduce the price of imports in local-currency terms.

 But Mr. Hu shrugged off the U.S. argument, saying that China is fighting inflation with a whole package of policies, including interest-rate increases, and "inflation can hardly be the main factor in determining the exchange rate policy."

 Further, Mr. Hu suggested that inflation was not a big worry, saying prices were "on the whole moderate and controllable." He added: "We have the confidence, conditions and ability to stabilize the overall price level."

 The U.S. argues that the yuan's real exchange rate—that is, the exchange rate as adjusted for the higher inflation level in China than the U.S.—is rising at a 10% annual rate. Treasury officials have argued to China that its policy options are limited—either it can boost the exchange rate to fight inflation, or inflation will effectively boost the value of China's currency.

 While the U.S. says some Chinese economic officials buy that argument, it hasn't been widely adopted within China, as Mr. Hu's comments illustrate. But the U.S. feels that economics and time are on its side. Even so, the administration and Congress will continue to press China to boost the pace of its currency appreciation.

 Mr. Hu renewed a Chinese pledge to offer a level playing field in China for U.S. companies, which have complained about aggressive Chinese moves to usurp their technology and shut them out of massive government-procurement contracts.

 Enlarge Image Close Reuters China's new stealth fighter, which was recently tested in flight.

 "All foreign companies registered in China are Chinese enterprises," Mr. Hu said, responding to concerns that China discriminates in government procurement against foreign businesses as part of its drive to encourage so-called indigenous innovation.

 He added: "Their innovation, production and business operations in China enjoy the same treatment as Chinese enterprises."

 The U.S. has been pressing China to revamp its plans for indigenous innovation, which foreign companies say put them at a disadvantage in competition with China's state-owned firms, which limits the types of government development projects and requires that companies get government approval to participate. China has pledged to join the World Trade Organization's government procurement agreement, which limits a country's ability to discriminate. But the U.S. and other countries say that so far China's WTO offer is inadequate because it exempts provinces, municipalities and state-owned enterprises. Last month China pledged to amend a buy-Chinese provision. During the Hu visit, the U.S. hopes to see some other commitments on this front from China.

 Mr. Hu began his answers with a relatively upbeat assessment of China-U.S. relations, which he said had "on the whole enjoyed steady growth" since the start of this century.

 He spoke of expanding cooperation from economy and trade into new areas like energy, infrastructure development and aviation and space. "We should abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality," he said, and "respect each other's choice of development path."

 Enlarge Image Close Reuters Smoke rises from South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island after being hit by artillery shells fired by North Korea

 On the diplomatic front, Mr. Hu entirely glossed over what has been one of the most dramatic developments of the past year—a series of disputes between a more assertive China and its neighbors that has given the U.S. an opening to shore up its relations with a part of the world that felt neglected by Washington while it fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 In the past year, China has feuded with Japan over the seizure of a Chinese fishing boat and its crew off disputed islands; opened deep differences with South Korea because of its subdued response to military provocations by North Korea; and alarmed countries in Southeast Asia by declaring the South China Sea and its energy and mineral riches one of its "core interests."

 "Mutual trust between China and other countries in this region has deepened in our common response to tough challenges, and our cooperation has continuously expanded in our pursuit of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes," Mr. Hu said, ignoring the regional turmoil.

 —Jason Dean in Beijing

 and Bob Davis in Washington

 contributed to this article. ||||| Chinese leader Hu Jintao is being feted in Washington this week with a lavish state banquet at the White House and other pomp usually reserved for close friends and allies _ all intended to improve the tone of relations between a risen, more assertive and prosperous China and the U.S. superpower in a tenuous economic recovery.

 FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2011 file photo, Chinese President Hu Jintao delivers a speech at a plenary session of the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing. Hu... (Associated Press)

 The shaky trust between the United States and China has been eroding recently because of an array of issues _ currency policies and trade barriers, nuclear proliferation and North Korea, and both sides seem to recognize the need to recalibrate relations.

 The U.S. is one of China's biggest markets, with $380 billion in annual trade largely in Beijing's favor. Washington increasingly needs Beijing's help in managing world troubles, from piracy off Africa to Iran's nuclear program and reinvigorating the world economy.

 "It is absolutely critical for the two sides to be setting a tone that says 'hang on a second, we are committed to an effective, positive relationship,'" said Center for Strategic and International Studies scholar Charles Freeman, a former trade negotiator in the George W. Bush administration.

 The state banquet President Barack Obama is hosting will be Hu's first. In the days before his visit, senior officials from both countries have spoken publicly in favor of better ties.

 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a speech Friday that the countries needed to manage their conflicts but their shared interests were so entwined as to constitute entanglement.

 "History teaches us that the rise of new powers often ushers in periods of conflict and uncertainty," Clinton said. "Indeed, on both sides of the Pacific, we do see trepidation about the rise of China and the future of the U.S.-China relationship. We both have much more to gain from cooperation than from conflict."

 Chinese officials have emphasized what they see as common concerns while acknowledging the complexity of the relationship.

 "When the relationship is strained we need to bear in mind the larger picture and not allow any individual issue to disrupt our overall cooperation," Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said in a speech Friday.

 Such maxims, however, don't apply to issues China defines as its "core interests," including Taiwan, Tibet, and the overarching authority of the Communist Party. That's a condition Hu's visit won't change.

 Hu, whose four-day trip starts Tuesday, is expected to talk up China's intended peaceful rise in a speech to business leaders and opinion-makers in Washington on Thursday and to highlight the benefits of China's market and investment when visiting Chicago.

 Aware of China's plummeting image in American opinion, Chinese Foreign Ministry functionaries have in recent weeks been looking for ways to make the usually stiff Hu, and China as a country, appear more human, something akin to reformist patriarch Deng Xiaoping's donning a 10-gallon hat in Houston in 1979 just after the opening of diplomatic relations.

 For the protocol-obsessed Chinese leadership, a highlight of the visit will be Wednesday's state banquet _ an honor denied Hu on his last trip to the White House in 2006. President George W. Bush thought state banquets should be reserved for allies and like-minded powers and instead gave Hu a lunch. Even worse, a member of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned by China, disrupted Hu and Bush's joint appearance, and an announcer incorrectly called China "The Republic of China," the formal name of democratically ruled Taiwan.

 In this visit, no major agreements are expected. Talks over a joint statement ran aground until last-minute negotiations in Beijing last week. But the shared recognition to put things right and the bumpy relations of the last year augur for a better outcome.

 The recent disputes make the summit more necessary than ever, said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Beijing's Renmin University.

 "If you look back to relations over the last year, any progress is significant," he said.

 A successful visit also stands to raise Hu's standing domestically as he heads toward retirement late next year and seeks to place his political proteges in positions of influence. "A demonstration that Hu can handle the U.S. well and show that China is now well respected by Washington should help Hu to consolidate his legacy," said Oxford University China scholar Steve Tsang.

 Still more difficult will be stopping the larger drift in relations amid the countries' changing fortunes. Beijing feels its economic, military and diplomatic strength entitles it to more deference while Washington tries to shore up its superpower authority, forging alliances and ties with other countries amid the changing global order.

 While the U.S. is weighted down by high unemployment, massive budget deficits and sluggish growth, China has roared ahead, with the economy expanding 9.6 percent in the third quarter of last year.

 China now holds the world's largest foreign currency reserves at $2.85 trillion and a major chunk of U.S. government debt. At current rates, economists estimate China will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy within 20 years, possibly by the end of this decade. That transition could be bumpy, with China's authoritarian one-party communist political system and sense of historical grievance setting it at odds with the democratic West.

 Feeling its oats, Beijing has largely rebuffed U.S. appeals for help in reining in bellicose North Korea, curbing Iran's nuclear program and faster appreciation of China's currency and dismantling of trade barriers. Chinese officials and the nationalistic state-run media have criticized Washington's renewed attention to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, its arms sales to Taiwan and its continued naval patrols in the Yellow and South China seas as attempts to constrain China's influence in its backyard.

 Chinese officials have accused the U.S. of orchestrating the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. And just last week, Chinese military commanders greeted U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' offer for closer military dialogue by sending a prototype for a new stealth fighter on its first test-flight.

 In recent months, about the only thing the two seem to have agreed on is that the U.S. and China did not have enough common ground to form a Group of 2, or "G-2", to solve the world's troubles.

 The U.S.-China relationship "is as important as any bilateral relationship in the world," Clinton said Friday. "But there is no such thing as a G-2. Both of our countries reject that concept."

Summary: – Chinese President Hu Jintao is speaking to the American media—albeit through written answers to questions he selected from lists submitted to him by the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal—for the first time since 2008. Among the topics? "Common ground," the dollar, and the yuan. Hu, who will be in Washington this week for a state visit, said China and the US could both gain by finding "common ground" on issues like fighting terrorism, clean energy, and nuclear proliferation—and only "stand to ... lose from confrontation." Other highlights: On US criticism of his country's internal affairs: Hu seemed to pooh-pooh it, notes the Post, writing the two should "respect each other's choice of development path." On the dollar's role as global reserve currency: "The current international currency system is the product of the past." On the yuan: It "has played a role in the world economic development. But making [the yuan] an international currency will be a fairly long process." Regarding the economic crisis of 2008: It reflected "the absence of regulation in financial innovation" and "its root cause lies in the serious defects of the existing financial system." One such defect: "International financial institutions failed to fully reflect the changing status of developing countries in the world economy and finance." The questions he didn't answer: Those having to do with Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, China's growing naval power, and alleged Chinese cyberattacks. Click for more on Washington's plans for this week's "lavish state banquet."


In this photo from Tuesday, March 1, 2016, a sign stands at the northbound entrance to the recently renamed Robin Williams Tunnel in Sausalito, Calif. A tunnel with rainbow arches that connects the Golden... (Associated Press)

 In this photo from Tuesday, March 1, 2016, a sign stands at the northbound entrance to the recently renamed Robin Williams Tunnel in Sausalito, Calif. A tunnel with rainbow arches that connects the Golden... (Associated Press)

 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A tunnel with rainbow arches that connects the Golden Gate Bridge to greater Marin County has officially become the Robin Williams tunnel.

 The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1XZUbzl ) that the new Robin Williams Tunnel signs were installed Monday night. The tunnel was unofficially known as the Waldo Tunnel.

 State lawmakers approved a resolution last year to change the tunnel's name to honor the late actor and comedian, who grew up and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 The two signs — one for each side of the tunnel — cost $3,000. Private donations paid for the cost. ||||| Robin Williams tunnel officially gets new signs

 The new Robin Williams Tunnel sign was installed February 29 at the site of the tunnel connecting the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. The tunnel was previously only unofficially known as the Waldo Tunnel. (Photo courtesy Andrew Payne.) less The new Robin Williams Tunnel sign was installed February 29 at the site of the tunnel connecting the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. The tunnel was previously only unofficially known as the Waldo Tunnel. ... more Image 1 of / 57 Caption Close Robin Williams tunnel officially gets new signs 1 / 57 Back to Gallery

 Several months after legislation to name the rainbow-arched so-called Waldo tunnel connecting the Golden Gate bridge to Marin County, the newly dubbed Robin Williams tunnel finally got official.

 The tunnel's moniker, which was officially confirmed last June, was meant as a dedication to the late actor and comedian's life. Many thought that the tunnel's rainbow border was a natural reminder of his character Mork from "Mork & Mindy," who wore multi-colored suspenders on the show.

 The $3,000 signs — one on each side of the tunnel — were paid for using private donations, as a Caltrans spokesman told SFGATE last summer.

 The person who started the campaign to change the tunnel's name, Belvedere resident Julie Wainwright, posted a photo on Twitter of the new sign being installed.

 The tunnel was previously unofficially known as the Waldo Tunnel because it is on the Waldo Grade, which is named after William Waldo, a Whig Party candidate who ran for governor in 1853.

 "He was an integral part of our community here in the Bay Area," she wrote on the campaign's Change.org page last year. "We claim him as our own."

 Williams was a Marin resident himself prior to his death in August, 2014.

Summary: – A tunnel with rainbow arches that connects the Golden Gate Bridge to greater Marin County has officially become the Robin Williams tunnel, the AP reports. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the new Robin Williams Tunnel signs were installed Monday night. The tunnel was unofficially known as the Waldo Tunnel. State lawmakers approved a resolution last year to change the tunnel's name to honor the late actor and comedian, who grew up and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The two signs—one for each side of the tunnel—cost $3,000. Private donations paid for the cost.


CLOSE The latest comedian accused of joke theft is Conan O'Brien and his writing team. Conan’s team says that they were unaware of Alex Kaseberg's jokes until after they’d written their own. USA TODAY

 Conan O'Brien at City Hall in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2016. (Photo: VEGARD WIVESTAD, EPA)

 It could be the next big celebrity trial: Conan O'Brien defending himself and his writers in federal civil court against accusations of "joke-stealing" — the worst thing you could say about a comedian, according to O'Brien.

 But don't go signing up for courtroom tickets just yet. Experts in copyright law say the 2-year-old copyright infringement lawsuit filed against O'Brien, his writers for his late-night show, Conan, and Time Warner over a handful of topical jokes may never get before a jury, despite a ruling by a judge that the case can proceed.

 The stakes are high, not just in time and litigation costs but in "reputational" costs: No comedian wants to be known as a joke thief. "Accusing a comedian of stealing a joke is the worst thing you can accuse them of, in my opinion, short of murder," O'Brien said in a deposition in the case. "I think it's absolutely terrible."

 Thus, O'Brien and the plaintiff in the case, a freelance joke writer in San Diego named Robert "Alex" Kaseberg, have to weigh the risks and benefits of going to trial and possibly losing, or negotiating a settlement that could leave a whiff of suspected thievery in the Conan writers' room.

 "Comics rarely sue one another, and to some degree this case illustrates why," says New York University law professor Christopher Sprigman , a leading expert in intellectual property law involving comedy. "The judge (in the O'Brien case) ruled the case could go forward but the ruling makes it difficult" for the plaintiff to prevail.

 New York intellectual property lawyer and mediator Arnie Herz says the ruling showed the judge "did not say that anyone did anything wrong, she was saying there was enough to go to a jury."

 But will it? It's impossible to predict, Sprigman says, but settling could be tricky for O'Brien.

 "Among comics, joke stealing is really, really bad behavior — no one wants to go down as a joke thief, so the settlement has to make absolutely clear that no one is admitting any wrongdoing," Sprigman says. "(O'Brien) has got to worry about how his fellow comedians would react to that."

 "It's no joking matter," cracks Herz, who says most IP cases are settled before trial. If a "reasonable settlement" can be achieved, it behooves all involved to resolve the case, he says.

 "There are strong economic reasons to resolve this (before trial) because these are not easy cases to prevail, there are high standards plaintiffs have to prove," says Herz. "At a trial, it depends on how a jury views the plaintiff and Conan O'Brien. The plaintiff and his lawyers could end up with nothing, so they don't want to put in a ton of time and money and end up losing."

 O'Brien's legal woes were on display Monday after U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino ruled Friday that a jury can decide whether O'Brien and his writers stole three jokes dealing with Tom Brady, Caitlyn Jenner and the Washington Monument from Kaseberg's social media feed and blog between December 2014 and June 2015. (Two other jokes were dropped from the case.)

 The Brady joke had Brady giving his MVP truck "to the man who won the game for Patriots" — Pete Carroll. The Jenner joke involved Caitlyn's gender transition and towns with streets named after Bruce Jenner. And the Washington Monument jibe was a penis joke based on news that the obelisk is actually 10 inches shorter than previously thought and maybe it was due to cold weather.

 But the judge warned that jokes based on current events and news are entitled only to "thin" copyright protection — meaning the jokes in question have to be virtually identical in order to find a defendant guilty of copyright infringement, says Sprigman. Also, a jury would have to conclude that the defendant had access to the jokes and willfully copied them, Herz adds.

 Conan O'Brien during the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 11, 2016. (Photo: JON OLAV, EPA)

 Unlike patents, creators can't get ownership of ideas or facts or events on which jokes are based, only the manner in which they are expressed, Herz says. Plus, the allegedly stolen joke has to be "fixed" in a tangible means of expression, either recorded or published.

 "If it turns out the jokes copied from a Twitter feed were virtually identical to the jokes as told (by O'Brien), then maybe he wants to take the reputational hit and settle," Sprigman says."If there's doubt about whether they were copied or are identical, he could go to trial and roll the dice. It’s a pickle no matter what."

 Intellectual property lawsuits involving comedy are exceedingly rare; it's been "decades and decades" since the last one, says Sprigman, co-author of a 2008 paper, There's No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy, that explored how comedians protect their jokes against thieves by enforcing their own comedy-community norms, and not through intellectual property law.

 He and his co-author, Dotan Oliar, interviewed comedians, their lawyers and their agents, and found that comics have long employed out-of-court means of addressing accusations of theft.

 "They typically handle it through community policing, they have a set of norms on joke thievery and they enforce them through various means," Sprigman says. "Copyright lawsuits typically don’t work that well (in these cases) — they're expensive and often they don't have good results for plaintiffs."

 Neither O'Brien nor his lawyers returned messages from USA TODAY. Same for Kaseberg and his lawyer.

 But on Wednesday, O'Brien's publicists at 42 West in New York issued a statement on his behalf in an email to USA TODAY from Amanda Nesbitt: "We are very pleased that the court has granted summary judgment and dismissed two of the jokes at issue. We can't comment further on pending litigation, but we are extremely confident that once the facts are presented to a jury, we will be fully vindicated."

 Kaseberg said on his blog he's a comedy writer who's contributed hundreds of jokes to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for 20 years. In a February 2015 post, he describes his version of how his jokes allegedly were stolen by O'Brien's writers.

 "The only consolation I can take from this horrifying violation is I wrote three jokes that were good enough to be on the monologue on Conan. And they all got good laughs," he said. "Since I cannot watch the show again – it is too painful – and I have lost respect for one of my comedy idols, that consolation will have to be enough."

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rjBrAh |||||

 Conan O’Brien makes an appearance at Harvard University on Feb. 12, 2016. (Charles Krupa/AP)

 U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino recently refused to toss out an unusual lawsuit accusing late-night host Conan O’Brien and his writing staff of stealing jokes from a professional joke writer’s blog and Twitter feed, claiming some were entitled to “thin copyright protection.”

 Robert “Alex” Kaseberg, a writer who has penned more than 1,000 jokes for Jay Leno, accused O’Brien of telling five of his jokes in his monologue on “Conan.” Kaseberg said he wrote and posted the jokes online between Dec. 2, 2014, and June 9, 2015.

 Kaseberg wrote on his blog he was convinced O’Brien’s team was stealing his material after the third time he heard the comedian tell a joke he had recently posted.

 “Two times there is an impossibly slight possibility of a joke-writing coincidence, three times there is no possibility of a coincidence,” he wrote. “And always used on the monologue one day or, in the case of the third time, six hours after it appeared on my blog and or Twitter.”

 Kaseberg said he reached out to O’Brien’s writing team but was rebuked. He then filed suit against O’Brien, his writing staff, Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner in July 2015. O’Brien and the other parties denied any joke theft and requested that the case be dismissed.

 In her opinion issued Friday, the judge allowed the suit to proceed to trial but threw out two jokes. The suit will proceed on the other three.

 The judge noted the difficulty of proving that a joke was stolen.

 “Facts, of course, are not protected by copyright,” she wrote. “And although the punchlines of the jokes are creative, they are nonetheless constrained by the limited number of variations that would (1) be humorous (2) as applied to the specific facts articulated in each joke’s previous sentence and (3) provide mass appeal. This merits only thin protection.”

 Because of such “thin protection,” there has not been an intellectual property lawsuit concerning comedy in “decades and decades,” New York University law professor Christopher Sprigman told USA Today.

 “Comics rarely sue one another, and to some degree this case illustrates why,” he added. “The judge ruled the case could go forward but the ruling makes it difficult” for Kaseberg to win.

 Even so, Kaseberg’s lawyer, Jayson Lorenzo, called the ruling “a victory for comedy writers, especially lesser known writers,” in a statement to the New York Times.

 The three jokes in question, according to court documents:

 The Tom Brady joke

 Kaseberg: “Tom Brady said he wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll.”

 O’Brien: “Tom Brady said he wants to give the truck that he was given as Super Bowl MVP … to the guy who won the Super Bowl for the Patriots. Which is very nice. I think that’s nice. I do. Yes. So Brady’s giving his truck to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.”

 The Caitlyn Jenner joke

 Kaseberg: “Three towns, two in Texas, one in Tennessee, have streets named after Bruce Jenner and now they have to consider changing them to Caitlyn. And one will have to change from a Cul-De-Sac to a Cul-De-Sackless.”

 O’Brien: “Some cities that have streets named after Bruce Jenner are trying to change the streets’ names to Caitlyn Jenner. If you live on Bruce Jenner Cul-de-sac it will now be Cul-de-no-sack.”

 The Washington Monument joke

 Kaseberg: “The Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than previously thought. You know the winter has been cold when a monument suffers from shrinkage.”

 O’Brien: “Yesterday surveyors announced that the Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than what’s been previously recorded. Yeah. Of course, the monument is blaming the shrinkage on the cold weather.”

 “The only consolation I can take from this horrifying violation is I wrote three jokes that were good enough to be on the monologue on ‘Conan.’ And they all got good laughs,” Kaseberg wrote on his blog in 2015. “Since I cannot watch the show again — it is too painful — and I have lost respect for one of my comedy idols, that consolation will have to be enough.”

 O’Brien also appeared to be emotionally affected by the situation.

 “Accusing a comedian of stealing a joke is the worst thing you can accuse them of, in my opinion, short of murder,” O’Brien said during a deposition in the case, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I think it’s absolutely terrible.”

 The trial is on pace to take place in August, CBS reported.

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 Mass. school punishes twins for hair braid extensions. Their parents say it’s racial discrimination. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

Summary: – Conan O'Brien might soon find himself in court over allegations that are nightmarish for any comedian: He's accused of stealing jokes. As USA Today reports, a judge has allowed a federal civil suit to go forward in which Robert "Alex" Kaseberg accuses O'Brien and his writers of stealing jokes he posted online in 2014 and 2015. It's possible, perhaps even likely, the case will be settled before it goes to trial, given how tricky intellectual property cases can be. "Accusing a comedian of stealing a joke is the worst thing you can accuse them of, in my opinion, short of murder," said O'Brien himself in a deposition. Kaseberg makes his case in a blog post here. The judge said three jokes in particular are in question. Here they are, via the Washington Post: Kaseberg: "Tom Brady said he wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll." O’Brien: "Tom Brady said he wants to give the truck that he was given as Super Bowl MVP … to the guy who won the Super Bowl for the Patriots. Which is very nice. I think that’s nice. I do. Yes. So Brady’s giving his truck to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll." Kaseberg: "Three towns, two in Texas, one in Tennessee, have streets named after Bruce Jenner and now they have to consider changing them to Caitlyn. And one will have to change from a Cul-De-Sac to a Cul-De-Sackless." O’Brien: "Some cities that have streets named after Bruce Jenner are trying to change the streets’ names to Caitlyn Jenner. If you live on Bruce Jenner Cul-de-sac it will now be Cul-de-no-sack." Kaseberg: "The Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than previously thought. You know the winter has been cold when a monument suffers from shrinkage." O’Brien: "Yesterday surveyors announced that the Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than what’s been previously recorded. Yeah. Of course, the monument is blaming the shrinkage on the cold weather."


The torrent of leaks these past few days haven’t left much to the imagination, but HTC’s Peter Chou has just officially pulled back the curtain on the first phone to ship with Facebook Home — the HTC First — at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters.

 According to HTC CEO Peter Chou the First will be the “ultimate social phone,” though he declined to dig into the device’s specs during his brief moments on-stage. The device will ship in four colors, and will support AT&T’s LTE network right out of the gate. Can’t wait for your chance to take it for a spin? The First will be available for $99 (with a 2 year contract naturally) starting on April 12, and pre-orders for the device kick off today. Those of you outside the U.S. will be able to join in the fun shortly too, as Mark Zuckerberg also noted that the phone would find its way to UK carriers Orange and EE in short order.

 The mid-range First will be available in black, white, red and blue, and sports a 4.3-inch display that jibes with earlier reports. Facebook Home obviously serves to obscure the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean build that’s actually running the show, while one of Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipsets (and not the MSM8960 that was previously reported) provides the horsepower from inside that smooth, curved chassis. It’s not a bad looking phone and the internals aren’t quite as lousy as many had expected them to be, but all this begs a very important question — will anyone actually buy this phone when you can fire up Facebook Home on your (supported) Android handset for a whopping zero dollars?

 I mean, c’mon — I’m a sucker for even mildly neat hardware, but so far neither HTC nor AT&T (whose CEOs both appeared on-stage to talk about how darned great the thing is) could provide a compelling reason why it’s worth buying. LTE? A handsome design? Neither of those are exactly hard to come by these days, are they? Facebook has said that the First will feature better integration for all those notifications you’re bound to get than if you had just installed the app, but at this point there’s little way of knowing how big a difference it’ll actually make. HTC knows how to make great hardware and I don’t mean to diminish that, but a lame device that’s been put together well is still a lame device.

 This marks the second time that the social networking giant and the beleaguered Taiwanese OEM have collaborated on a peculiar hardware play. The first, if you’ll recall, were HTC Status (nee Chacha) and the Salsa released back in 2011– their main claim to fame was a dedicated Facebook button for quick access to your friends and feeds. Considering that neither device was exactly a runaway hit, it’s no surprise to see that Facebook and HTC have taken things in a different, more substantial direction with the One. Of course, the First is going to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Facebook Home devices — Zuckerberg also pointed to a Facebook Home Program which allows hardware manufacturers to build Facebook Home into their own forthcoming handsets. ||||| Facebook Launches Home, Its Android Phone Project

 After years of construction, Facebook is at long last revealing its effort to build “a new home” on Android.

 “Today we are finally going to be talking about that Facebook phone. Or, more accurately, we are going to talk about how you can turn your Android device … into a great social phone,” Mark Zuckerberg said, kicking off the event at company headquarters in Menlo Park. “We think this is the best version of Facebook there is.”

 Facebook Home, as the product is known, isn’t a phone, per se, but rather a series of customizations that replaces the look and feel of a standard Android phone with a set of Facebook apps, home screens and messaging experiences.

 As we first reported in a series of articles more than a year ago, the project to create a custom Facebook phone on top of Android — code-named Buffy — has been going on for some time.

 Facebook has since spent a lot of time noting that it is not building a phone — which is technically true. However, it has built the software guts of one, and it even partnered with HTC to put a hardware face on its the project.

 Zuckerberg stressed that what Facebook is doing isn’t building a phone or an operating system, but rather an experience that is a family of apps that becomes your home screen on a standard Android device.

 “You don’t need to fork Android to do this,” Zuckerberg said. Facebook Home will be an update on Google Play to the social network’s existing Facebook app. It will be available initially only for phones, with tablet support coming within several months.

 Updates to Facebook Home will also come monthly, the company said, arguing that yearly updates such as those made to Android just aren’t frequent enough.

 Zuckerberg reiterated why the company is focused on the software rather than a single phone. Zuckerberg said that a great phone might sell 10 million or 20 million units — one percent of Facebook’s total user base.

 “We’re not building a phone, and we’re not building an operating system, but we are also building something that is a lot more … than an ordinary app,” he said.

 Zuckerberg took aim at the app-centric approach taken by most modern smartphones, saying phones should be about people rather than programs.

 Facebook isn’t the only company trying to move away from an app-centric world. Windows Phone, for example, has a People hub that focuses on all the ways that someone connects with a person and their photos and updates.

 Apps, of course, are still a part of phones, so an app launcher is just a swipe away.

 One particular feature should be more than just an app, Zuckerberg said, and that’s messaging. The company has built a new experience where “Chat Heads” — little pictures of your friends — pop up when a new message comes in.

 Beyond the cute head shots, Chat Heads allow messaging to take place in any app, rather than requiring a user to either stop what they are doing or risk ignoring the person seeking their attention.

 “It really feels like your friends are always there,” said Joey Flynn, the Facebook designer who created the messaging experience.

 Chat Heads work with both text messages and incoming Facebook messages. ||||| The social network dials up a new way to hook people on its mobile-phone software. And HTC will release the first phone with Home pre-installed.

 Facebook Home on Android (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

 Facebook unveiled a new "Home" on Android at a press event at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters today -- a family of apps meant to keep mobile audiences always affixed to its social network.

 Facebook Home consists of a set of the social network's apps that become the home of your Android phone. With Home, the device's home screen transforms into "Cover Feed," or a visually rich and swipe-able version of News Feed for your phone. Home also includes a more picture-perfect version of messaging, complete with a Facebook-invented feature called "Chat Heads," with colorful notifications that include friends' pictures.

 "We're not building a phone and we're not building an operating system," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. "We're building something a whole lot deeper than an ordinary app."

 Facebook showed off the software, which can be downloaded to a limited number of Android phones starting April 12, and also invited partner HTC to unveil the HTC First, the first smartphone to come with Facebook Home pre-installed. (See CNET Reviews' Editor's Take here.) HTC CEO Peter Chou said the new device, arriving exclusively with AT&T;, represented a "great opportunity to bring mobile and social together."

 HTC First comes with Facebook Home

 Today, phones are designed around apps, not people, Zuckerberg said. "We want to flip that around."

 The social network aims to turn the current model on its head with a Facebook-centric view of your world. With Home, Messaging in particular has been tailored around people. The Facebook Home-modified functionality offers users a way to engage in multiple conversations with a single tap, and includes something called "Chat Heads," which are basically interactive profile pictures that you can have a little extra fun with.

 Chat Heads offer message previews and allow members to dive into conversations with one tap. They're enmeshed within the entire phone experience, which means you'll find active Chat Heads sitting atop the screen as you do other things. The flying heads, which you can flick around with reckless abandon, work with both Facebook messages and standard text messages.

 Chat Heads (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

 Advertisements will not be a part of Facebook Home at launch, but ads will find their way over to the experience at some point, Zuckerberg said.

 Today's event clarifies a number of reports from a rumor mill that's been running fast and furious ever since Facebook announced the event one week ago. The company, according to a bevy or credible-sounding reports and alleged photo leaks, was expected to showcase a new HTC device running a tweaked version of Android that makes the social network's apps and functions native to the smartphone.

 Investors initially weren't all that keen on the suspected Android news, though some seemed to have a change of heart Wednesday after JPMorgan analysts quelled fears about the social network's mobile users jumping ship to other applications. JPMorgan has a $35 price target for Facebook, which closed Wednesday at $26.25 a share. ||||| Facebook's throwing its hat in the Android ring in a big, big way. Today at an event at the company's campus in California, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Home, a deep software integration with Android that puts Facebook services front and center. Zuckerberg left the HTC First announcement to HTC's Peter Chou, spending more time mentioning ways you could turn your Android phone into something much more social. We spend as much as 25 percent of our time on our phone using Facebook and Instagram, he said, so why not design a phone around "people, not apps?"

 "We want to build the best experience for every person, on every phone"

 Home is a family of Facebook apps that overhauls your entire device, turning it into a Facebook phone. An app called Coverfeed overhauls the homescreen and the lockscreen, giving you updates on what your friends are doing without you having to launch an app, or even unlock your phone — and you'll get ads in all the same places. You can comment or like posts from your homescreen — it feels incredibly native. Everything is full-screen and incredibly visual, really looking nothing like Android.

 Messaging is one of the key features of Facebook Home – Zuckerberg made no bones about believing the way we currently message is broken. Messaging on Facebook Home is everywhere — you'll see a round icon with the face of whoever you're talking to, called "Chat heads," over top of any app you're using. Just tap your friend's face, and up comes your chat window. It looks a little ridiculous, and you're going to spend a lot of time poking people in the face, but it's a much more integrated chat solution than we've ever seen on Android. It works with SMS and Facebook messaging, but Chat heads try to obscure which you're actually using — it's all about who you're chatting with, not what service you're using to do so.

 The whole setup is very gesture-based, allowing to to switch between apps and notifications pretty quickly. The new launcher shows your favorite apps in one screen, and the full app drawer on the other, plus offers a quick way to post a photo or a status update. Much of the overhaul is about making all of Facebook's services not only easy to see, but easy to add to from anywhere on your phone.

 "There's no chrome, no nav — it's about the content first"

 There are badges and notifications on every app that let you know when something new is happening, when someone is communicating with you. Notifications are sorted by friend, rather than app — it says when your friend is doing something, rather than letting you know that an app has something new for you. Instead of navigating through a list of apps, opening Photos to see photos and Calendar to see your events, Facebook wants to make your phone a lot more like your News Feed.

 Zuckerberg spent a lot of time talking about how open Android is, and how it allowed Facebook to change a lot about the OS without a lot of work. "You don't need to fork Android" to do what Facebook is doing, he said. And for Facebook, it all starts with the homescreen, which Zuckerberg said we look at 100 times a day.

 "It's not just mobile first, but mobile best"

 We're hearing Home will be available beginning April 12th, but only in a limited capacity — it will initially be available on the HTC One and One X, and the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note II. It'll be rolling out broadly, but not at first. It can be installed from the Play Store, and if you have Facebook installed on your phone it will automatically prompt you to download the app. It's coming to a "wide range of devices," including tablets, though it won't come to larger screens for several months. The company promised to redesign every month, bringing new features and new device support.

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 We've been talking about it for years now—half dread, half excitement—and now it's no longer just our imaginations. The Facebook Phone is as real as it's probably ever going to get: it's called Facebook Home a complete Android takeover that converts your smartphone.

 It's important to know what Facebook Home, "the Facebook Phone," isn't. Facebook isn't building a phone in the same way that Apple builds a phone. This isn't an iPhone competitor, or even an Android competitor. It's not even a Facebook version of Android.

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 Facebook Home is apps.

 This is Facebook looking to plant itself in front of your eyeballs as much as possible with a homescreen entirely dedicated to the social network itself. Facebook Home is about what you're reading and tapping, not a hunk of plastic in your hand.

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 Home changes the entire way you interface with your phone—you'll access all of your non-Facebook apps by clicking on your own profile picture. As soon as you turn on your phone (or wake it), you'll see your "Coverfeed"—a super-condensed version of your News Feed that takes up the entire display, and completely replaces both the lockscreen and homescreen.

 There will be ads in this here Coverfeed, yes, because that's how Facebook makes money to exist.

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 But there will be a lot more: an ever-updating digest of what's happening with your pals. A giant photo someone shared. A link someone shared. Status updates. You can read whatever's next by swiping from one to the other, and double tap to like—no need to pop open a Facebook app.

 There are some nifty gestures at work: tap and hold to zoom out of a photo you like, and you can pop off a comment with another tap. Notifications—say, a new Facebook IM—will stack up on your Coverfeed, but can be bunched up by tapping and holding, or dismissed entirely by swiping them away. It looks decently natural.

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 You can launch your favorite apps without leaving Facebook Home.

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 Messaging your friends and/or sexual partners is one of the more novel touches with Facebook Home—it uses a nifty-looking and horribly named system called "Chatheads." Chatheads are small pictures of your friends that are shortcuts for conversation. They pop up revealing your friend's profile photo, and a simple tap pulls up the conversation, whether it's over IM or chat. Switching from one conversation to another is just a matter of tapping between faces, and if someone tries to get in touch with you, their face will appear over whatever it is you're doing: listening to music, browsing Google Maps, or playing a game.

 It's nice to see SMS and IM treated exactly the same, because really, it doesn't matter which medium is carrying your dispatches. "Hey" is "hey."

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 Home will be available to download in a week, with a tablet version out sometime later this year. It will update every single month—or so Mark Zuckerberg says—which means the software that dominates your screen will be refreshed more regularly than usual. That's great.

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 It looks beautiful. It'll come pre-loaded on the $100, AT&T-exclusive HTC First. Don't hold your breath for anything on iOS, ever. It may or may not wreck your battery life, what with the constant background updating and frenzy of graphical status updates and baby photos. We'll have to wait and see.

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 It looks beautiful, I can tell you that much. Or you can just look at these pictures and decide that. And the thinking behind Home—that your digital social life is a good anchor for your entire phone, and that Facebook is the best representation of this social life—is sound. Most apps are pointless, and most of the apps you even bother to download aren't used that frequently. Home eschews the skittle bag of specialized programs and assumes you'll be happy just cruising Facebook stuff most of the time. This rationale is a big part of what makes Windows Phone so brilliant. Your phone is already like a spoon for friendship, so if this all comes together, Facebook Home will maybe be like a spork. Or a feeding trough.

 But do you want this—this pretty takeover? Do you want Facebook to be your phone, rather than a small part of it on equal footing with a calculator app? I do not know.

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 Update: We looked at some Facebook reps use the HTC First. Home screen navigation appears fast and nimble, with full-screen images flipping past as fast as their finger swipes. Selecting, reordering, grouping, and dismissing the Chat Heads icons was equally responsive with very little lag. Even when running standalone apps like Instagram, the UI appeared quite zippy.

 Additional reporting by Andrew Tarantola

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Summary: – The "Facebook phone" is here and, as expected, it is not a phone built by Facebook. Instead, the company unveiled "Facebook Home," a download that converts an Android phone into a Facebook-centric device, reports CNET. It will be available on a limited basis April 12 at the Google Play store. That's the same day HTC is rolling out its HTC First, the first phone to ship with Facebook Home in place. (It will run $99 with a two-year contract from AT&T, reports TechCrunch.) "We're not building a phone and we're not building an operating system," says CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "We're building something a whole lot deeper than an ordinary app." Sam Biddle, Gizmodo: "Facebook Home means replacing the important parts of your phone with Facebook stuff. As much as possible, apps are replaced by Facebook features—FB chats instead of texts, FB Camera instead of... camera, and so forth. And of course, an at-a-glance feed of everything your friends are doing—Facebook activity jacked directly into your brain." David Pierce, the Verge: "An app called Coverfeed overhauls the homescreen and the lockscreen, giving you updates on what your friends are doing without you having to launch an app, or even unlock your phone. You can comment or like posts from your homescreen — it feels incredibly native. Everything is full-screen and incredibly visual, really looking nothing like Android." Ina Fried, AllThingsD: It's not "a phone per se, but rather a series of customizations that replaces the look and feel of a standard Android phone with a set of Facebook apps, home screens, and messaging experiences."