Michael Sheen gives 72-hr Easter Passion performance (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) ? "Frost/Nixon" actor Michael Sheen was giving a 72-hour live performance of The Passion over the Easter weekend, bringing the final hours of Jesus Christ's life to his home town, Port Talbot.

The show has taken over the town, with more than 1,000 locals playing roles as the action runs from location to location across Port Talbot and its beach.

The play began at 5:30am on Good Friday with a seafront scene inspired by John the Baptist's baptism of Jesus.

Thousands gathered at 3:00pm on the beach for the first main part of the play and Sheen provoked gasps when he emerged from the crowd sporting a scruffy beard and shaggy hair, wearing a blue top and a red blanket.

After a powerful speech which moved one woman to tears, he melted back into the audience and walked off down the beach towards the steelworks, before spending the night sleeping rough on a mountain outside the town.

"There's episodes of the story over the three days, and in between those official episodes there's other stuff going on but you just have to go and look for it," Sheen told ITV.

"It's a story that is absolutely about the town now, but it is underpinned by the story of the last week of Jesus."

Sheen was to spend Saturday evening eating a Last Supper of beer and sandwiches at the Seaside Social and Labour Club -- where Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers will also perform.

He will then be locked in the cells at the town's police station for the night, before being "crucified" on a roundabout overlooking Port Talbot bay on Easter Sunday.

The marathon drama is the finale to National Theatre Wales's launch year.

The Port Talbot area has produced some of Britain's finest actors, including Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins, but the town has fallen victim to industrial decline.

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McCain visits rebels, Libya adjusts Misrata tactics (Reuters)

By Michael Georgy

MISRATA, Libya, April 23 (Reuters) ? Washington should deploy ground attack aircraft against Muammar Gaddafi's forces and recognize the rebels, leading Senator John McCain said, becoming highest-profile Western politician to visit rebel-held Libya.

Libya's government indicated late on Friday it might adjust its strategy in the besieged city of Misrata, limiting the role of the army and instead sending tribesmen to battle insurgents.

The visit by McCain, the senior Republican politician who ran against Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008, raises the political stakes over a war that the top U.S. military officer acknowledged was headed toward stalemate.

Obama and the leaders of France and Britain say they will not stop their air campaign, now in its second month, until Gaddafi is removed from power. But the bombing has so far failed to tip the balance of power against Gaddafi's forces.

Since the initial days of the strikes, Obama has ordered his troops to take on a backseat military role, reluctant to become embroiled in a third war in a Muslim country and leaving ground strikes to Washington's NATO allies.

This week U.S. forces said they would send drones to carry out ground strikes. In the rebels' eastern stronghold of Benghazi, McCain said Washington should use low-flying attack planes, among the most feared tactical weapons in its arsenal.

"It is still incredibly puzzling to me that the two most accurate close air support weapons systems, the A-10 and the AC-130, have been taken out of the fight," he said on Friday.

In Tripoli, the government's press office said NATO forces had struck the center of the capital early on Saturday. Reuters correspondents did not hear any loud explosions but heard jets fly over the city, rattling windows.

The standoff on the ground has been worst felt in the besieged port city of Misrata, the only large city controlled by rebels in the West of the country, where rights groups believe hundreds of people have died in heavy fighting.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said armed tribesmen would be sent to fight in Misrata, reducing the role of the army, in response to air strikes.

He told reporters in Tripoli: "The situation in Misrata will be eased, will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata and the rest of Misrata's people and not by the Libyan army."

"The tactic of the army is to have a surgical solution but with the (NATO) airstrikes it doesn't work," he said.

Rebels seized control of a downtown office building that had been a base for Gaddafi's snipers and other troops, after a furious two-week battle. Shattered masonry, wrecked tanks and the incinerated corpse of a government soldier lay near the former insurance offices on Friday.

"They shot anything that moved," one fighter said of the Gaddafi men driven out.

In a tent just outside a Misrata hospital, rebel fighter Abdel Salam Daza lay on a stretcher. The doctor treating him said he was probably the victim of a mortar attack because of the multiple wounds to his head, chest and legs.

Daza, trembling, called out: "God is greatest, God is greatest against a tyrant."

There was more sporadic fighting on Friday on Tripoli Street, the main thoroughfare through the city and scene of the fiercest exchanges during the siege, with occasional explosions.

STALEMATE

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's joint chiefs of staff, told U.S. troops in Baghdad that Western-led air strikes had degraded between 30 and 40 percent of Gaddafi's ground forces. Referring to the conflict, he said: "It's certainly moving toward a stalemate.

Obama also described the conflict as a military stalemate last week, but said he thought Gaddafi was being increasingly isolated and would be toppled eventually.

McCain said Washington should recognize the rebels' Transitional National Council as the official government of Libya, a step already taken by France.

"They have earned this right and Gaddafi has forfeited it by waging war on his own people," he said.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about McCain's appeal, replied: "We think it's for the people of Libya to decide who the head of their country is, not for the United States to do that."

Sources close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he planned to visit Benghazi, probably in the first two weeks of May, and that he wanted British Prime Minister David Cameron to accompany him.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi and Lin Noueihed in Tripoli; Writing by Andrew Dobbie and Peter Graff)

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Masks of Britain's royals flying off the shelves (AP)

By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON ? Spotted: Kate Middleton running the London marathon!

Well, not Kate exactly, but goofy runners in lifelike cardboard masks.

Costume masks of Britain's royal family are flying off the shelves nationwide ahead of Prince William's April 29 wedding to Kate Middleton. And with Britons taking no pains to, well, mask their excitement about the wedding, the bride-to-be's face has been popping up in the most unlikely places.

On the street. At the gym. In the office.

And the stores? They're struggling to keep the masks in stock.

"They're flying out the door," said Tony Warner, assistant manager of London's Escapade party store. "They're beating (masks of) Simon Cowell, they're beating everyone else."

More than 120,000 royal masks have shipped already and Mask-arade, the company behind the phenomenon, is taking orders for 20,000 more each day, according to Ray Duffy, one of its founders.

"We thought they were going to be popular, but we underestimated just how popular," confessed Duffy. "It's gone absolutely wild."

Wills and Kate are the best-sellers of course, but the other royals on offer ? Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla ? are not far behind.

The success has stunned Duffy and his fellow mask men, forcing the Southam, England-based company to double in size and triple the number of contractors to meet the surge in demand.

"We're at absolute maximum capacity to get the orders shipped," Duffy said, adding that employees are logging 12-hour days and six-day work weeks. The company has already stopped taking large orders so it can guarantee delivery before the wedding.

And it's not just enthusiastic locals. Mask-arade is shipping British royal faces all over the world ? to the United States, Australia, Scotland, even Vietnam.

The founders launched the business in 2008 to make personalized masks for parties, but when requests came in for celebrity faces, they was happy to oblige. The company offers about 100 masks total.

On April 29, when thousands in Britain are expected to don royal masks for street parties, Duffy will honor the groom by wearing his face. His two partners plan to go another route, wearing Mr. Bean and popular comedian Harry Hill.

"They're a brilliant trick of the eye," Duffy mused. "In a blink of a second, you think the person could actually be there."

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Mullen: up to 40 percent of Kadhafi's forces destroyed (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) ? The US military's top officer said on Friday that more than a third of Libya's forces had been destroyed, but there was little movement in the conflict.

"The Libyan main forces have been attrited to about that level, between 30 and 40 percent," Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference at the US military's Victory Base Camp on Baghdad's outskirts.

"Essentially it is very much stalemate-like in the vicinity of Ajdabiya and Brega... I am sure that NATO forces will continue to attrite the military capability of the regime forces," he added.

Mullen's comments come as rebels fighting to topple Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi have been held back by his forces for more than three weeks in eastern Libya.

"I think clearly the long-term goal is to see Kadhafi and his family out of power and out of the country," Mullen said.

He later added: "The exact outcome of when something is going to happen is very difficult to predict. But I think the eventual outcome is certain."

Asked about the possibility of arms for rebel forces fighting Kadhafi's soldiers, Mullen said that was "not going to happen."

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Maliki says troops ready in talks with US's Mullen (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) ? The Iraqi army can maintain security, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday in talks with America's top military officer, the latest official to visit Baghdad ahead of an upcoming US pullout.

Maliki's remarks to Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated those he made to John Boehner, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, who visited Iraq last weekend.

"Prime Minister Maliki said the armed forces and the Iraqi security forces were able to take responsibility, and that they worked with professionalism," a statement from the premier's office said.

He added that Iraq would "continue to strengthen their combat capabilities while providing them with the latest equipment and weapons."

The US military declined to comment on Mullen's trip when contacted by AFP.

Sandwiched between Boehner's and Mullen's trips was a visit by US army chief of staff General Martin Dempsey.

Fewer than 50,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq, down from a peak of nearly 170,000 following the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.

All of those troops must withdraw from the country by the end of the year, according to the terms of a bilateral security pact.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on a surprise trip to Iraq on April 8 that American forces were prepared to stay in any role beyond the scheduled pullout, but time was running out for Baghdad to ask.

"My basic message to them is (for us to) just be present in some areas where they still need help. We are open to that possibility," he said. "But they have to ask, and time is running out in Washington."

A senior American military official also said last week that Iraqi leaders should not expect US forces to return to help in a crisis after they have pulled out.

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London spruces up for royal wedding (AFP)

by Alice Ritchie

LONDON (AFP) ? The fountains have been cleaned, the lawns trimmed and giant Union flags are flying in the wind -- it's one week from the royal wedding, and London is putting on its best face for William and Kate.

Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers are expected for the wedding on April 29, not to mention the hundreds of VIPs invited to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

To make the capital look as good as the bride, teams of contractors have given it a spring clean, and huge media stands have been erected to ensure the visiting hordes of journalists get the best possible view.

Dozens of red, white and blue Union flags have been installed opposite Buckingham Palace, with more expected to be hung along the Mall, down which the newlyweds will drive in their carriage after the wedding.

Speakers have been set up among the chestnut trees to relay the marriage ceremony live to the crowds, and in nearby St James's Park, the grass has been trimmed and the flowerbeds packed with new blooms.

On Whitehall, which is also on the procession route, the war memorials have been cleaned with pressurised water jets, and stall owners selling wedding memorabilia are doing a roaring trade.

"My Kate and William tea-towels are almost sold out. I've sold hundreds of them," said Richard Hudson, as he struggled to keep up with demand from tourists for spoons, mugs and plates sporting the couple's picture.

Although William and Kate will not pass them, the authorities have taken the opportunity to spruce up the 19th century fountains in nearby Trafalgar Square.

This week they were drained, the tiles were polished and the bronze light fittings buffed in a job which took the best part of three days. "I don't think they'd been done for 20 years," remarked a contractor working on the fittings.

At the other end of Whitehall, outside the abbey, the anti-war protesters who made Parliament Square their home for several years have finally been cleared by court order and the patchy grass has been replanted.

The demonstrators are confined to a small strip of pavement opposite the Houses of Parliament, where their banners denouncing the "two million deaths in Iraq" are now softened by a poster featuring a heart enclosing the names William and Kate.

Behind the protesters, workmen put the finishing touches to a five-tiered stand overlooking the abbey's west entrance, where 100 photographers and up to 250 other media will watch Kate drive up to the church in her Rolls Royce.

It took two weeks to install, but the planning has gone on much longer -- and one contractor admitted he couldn't wait until it was all over. "I'm sick of it, to be honest," he said.

However, his colleague told him off for being so miserable, saying: "I'll be here to see Kate."

Scaffolding has also been installed on two buildings behind, with cameras even now lined up for the perfect shot of the abbey.

A smaller structure stands at Trafalgar Square, where producers from US network NBC pointed out the best views of the London skyline as metres of cable were unloaded below.

The main media centre is opposite Buckingham Palace, where a temporary bank of studios stands camouflaged in green against the trees of Green Park, but without blocking the view from the palace.

Behind it, in a makeshift media village built on the grass, the TV trucks are already in place, their satellite dishes directed to the sky. One week to go, but London is ready.

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Abbas in Paris as France mulls recognising Palestine (AFP)

by Herve Rouach

PARIS (AFP) ? President Nicolas Sarkozy hosted Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Paris on Thursday as France told the United Nations that Europe was considering giving formal recognition to a Palestinian state.

"Recognition of the state of Palestine is one of the options which France is considering, with its European partners, with a view to creating a political horizon for relaunching the peace process," French ambassador Gerard Araud told a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East.

His statement came as Abbas was in the French capital to seek Sarkozy's "advice", in his own words, on the Palestinian Authority's bid to convince the world to accept its statehood even ahead of an ever elusive peace deal.

Any move to welcome a Palestinian state into the community of nations would be seen as an attempt to give a jolt to peace talks with Israel that stalled last September after Israel refused to extend a moratorium on settlements.

Abbas told the French daily le Figaro that US President Barack Obama "should" propose a peace plan ahead of a September deadline previously set for an accord to create a Palestinian state.

"The United States, as the big power, has the duty to make proposals. It is they who can convince Israel," he said in an interview to be published on Friday.

European ambassadors at the UN Security Council, meanwhile, called for "bold" US leadership to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as Britain also indicated that state recognition could be considered.

"Nothing is off the table with regard to recognition in September," said a British spokesman.

Pressure has mounted on Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid heightened Palestinian-Israeli hostilities and a US block on European attempts to break the deadlock.

Abbas told France 24 television that, while he hoped to return to talks with Israel, he thought most European governments were ready to recognise a Palestinian state come what may.

"All the signs from these organisations and states show that they're waiting for the right moment to recognise us," he said, while admitting there have been no outright promises to do so.

Sarkozy has not recently taken a position on the issue, having distanced himself in January last year from his then foreign minister Bernard Kouchner's suggestion that France might unilaterally recognise Palestine.

But Abbas' visit comes at a time when France, which holds the G8 and G20 presidencies, is adopting a more muscular foreign policy designed to revive its global role, in particular its position in the Arab world.

France led international calls for action against Moamer Kadhafi's Libyan regime, spearheading coalition air strikes and becoming the first power to adopt ties with the rebel shadow government in Benghazi.

Paris backs the goal of statehood by the time of the UN General Assembly in September.

But, as ever, profound differences remain between Israeli and Palestinian camps that could yet delay a vote.

Ongoing Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank claimed by Palestinians has sharpened divisions, but the wider international community is also divided on how best to push the talks forward.

The Middle East Quartet -- a diplomatic body overseeing the peace "roadmap" made up of Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States -- postponed a meeting that had been scheduled for April 15.

Europe hoped to announce the "parameters" of an imagined final agreement, but its partners in the process were not ready.

Last week, the Palestinian Authority urged Washington to clearly support the idea of a Palestinian State based on its 1967 borders -- those used before the Six Day War with Israel -- with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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West Indies beat Pakistan by seven runs (AFP)

by Paul Mitchell

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia (AFP) ? Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo captured four wickets while Lendl Simmons composed a fluent 65 as West Indies beat Pakistan by seven runs in their inaugural Twenty20 international on Thursday.

Umar Akmal led the way with 41, Asad Shafiq made 25, and Saeed Ajmal scored 21 not out as the Pakistanis were restricted to 143 for nine in their 20 overs, chasing 151 for victory at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.

"I think the pitch was good for batsmen, and I don't know why we missed this opportunity to win this match," said Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi.

"We are not building any partnerships. This is what has been missing for us for a few months. Bishoo bowled really well, and all of their bowlers delivered in the right areas."

The visitors' batting was undermined chiefly by leg-spinner Bishoo, whose four wickets for 17 runs from his allotted four overs earned him the man-of-the-match award, and Ravi Rampaul supported with three for 31 from four overs.

"The jump from domestic cricket to international cricket is a big difference," said Bishoo.

"You have to be far more containing because the batsmen take good balls and turn them into bad balls. The pitch was a good pitch and I felt it would slide onto the bat."

Pakistan bowlers' looked short of work as opener Simmons struck seven fours and two sixes in the top score of 65 from 44 deliveries as West Indies built a total of 150 for seven from their 20 overs.

Abdur Rehman gave Pakistan an early breakthrough, when he trapped Andre Fletcher lbw for one, but Simmons and Darren Bravo added 99 for the second wicket to put West Indies back on track for a decent total.

Rehman made the breakthrough again when he had Bravo caught at long-on for 42, and West Indies wobbled the rest of the way, with no other batsman passing 20.

Rehman, Wahab Riaz and Saeed Ajmal collected two wickets apiece for Pakistan.

Pakistan made a shaky start to their chase and soon slid to 49 for four in the seventh over when Bishoo tightened the screws, having Asad Shafiq caught at short mid-on with his fourth delivery, and next ball, had Misbah-ul-Haq hit wicket for a first-ball duck.

Akmal tried to keep the momentum going in the middle of the innings, but Bishoo had Afridi caught at extra cover for 12 to effectively dent Pakistan's hopes.

The two sides contest the first one-day international in a series of five, starting on Saturday at the same venue.

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US envoy hits out at China on Ai Weiwei detention (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) ? US ambassador Jon Huntsman hit out at the Chinese government for its detention of artist Ai Weiwei, who was voted one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine on Thursday.

"It is very sad that the Chinese government has seen a need to silence one of its most innovative and illustrious citizens," he said in a written introduction to the artist, who is also a staunch activist, published by Time.

"Ai... has shown compassion for his fellow citizens and spoken out for victims of government abuses, calling for political reforms to better serve the people," Huntsman, who is due to leave his post in the next few days, added.

"For the world, Ai continues to represent the promise of China."

Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah, has hinted he will be seeking the Republican nomination to challenge US President Barack Obama for the presidency next year, after he leaves his post.

Ai was taken into custody in Beijing on April 3 as he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong, and is under investigation for unspecified "economic crimes". Relatives of the artist say they do not know where he is.

He repeatedly challenged Chinese authorities, investigating school collapses in the 2008 quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, and launching a "citizen's probe" into a Shanghai fire that killed 58 people in November.

His detention -- part of a major government crackdown on dissent, which follows online calls for demonstrations in China to emulate the "Jasmine" protests that have rocked the Arab world -- has sparked an outcry in the West.

The United States, Australia, Britain, France and Germany have joined Amnesty International and other rights groups in calling for the release of Ai, born in 1957, whose work is on display in London's Tate Modern gallery.

Ai joins the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British actor Colin Firth and Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in the Time 100 -- the magazine's annual list of influential people.

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Japan Internet providers block child porn (AFP)

TOKYO (AFP) ? A group of Japanese internet service providers started blocking access to child porn websites on Thursday as part of efforts to crack down on the spread of sexually explicit images of children.

Japan is seen as a major global source of child pornography in photo and video form -- despite production and distribution being outlawed -- and authorities have stepped up efforts to contain the problem.

The possession of child porn remains legal in Japan.

The Internet Content Safety Association, established in March with 21 member companies, said nine leading providers had started preventing users from accessing sites containing pornographic images of children.

More than 100 websites are subject to the block, said local media reports.

The nine companies, including NEC Biglobe, NTT Communications and KDDI, between them cover about 50-70 percent of online households, according to the National Policy Agency.

The association has been making a list of internet addresses subject to the block, based on information from the Internet Hotline Centre Japan, which monitors illegal and harmful information on the Internet, it said.

Meanwhile, four major Internet search sites, including Google and Yahoo Japan, are ensuring that sites subject to blocking do not show up in their search results, the association said.

Law enforcers took action in 1,342 child porn cases in 2010, up 43.5 percent from the previous year, to reach a new record since such data was first compiled in 2000, according to the National Police Agency.

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Ex-South Texas police chief sentenced in drug case (AP)

MCALLEN, Texas ? A former South Texas police chief who pleaded guilty to helping Mexican drug cartels smuggle drugs across the border has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Hernan Guerra Jr. pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute. He was sentenced Wednesday.

The 45-year-old was arrested last summer at the Sullivan City Police Department.

The McAllen Monitor reports that at the sentencing, Guerra told U.S. District Judge Randy Crane that he is sorry for what he has done.

Crane said federal investigators had tapped Guerra's phone lines. Crane says that in those recordings, Guerra "seemed to scoff" at the idea of getting arrested.

___

Information from: The Monitor, http://www.themonitor.com

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Japan PM declares no-go zone around nuclear plant (AFP)

TOKYO (AFP) ? Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday declared the 20-kilometre (12-mile) evacuation area around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant a legal no-entry zone.

The move, due to come into effect at midnight local time (1500 GMT), came after police found more than 60 families still living inside the zone around the plant that was hit by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

The plant, where reactor cooling systems were knocked out, has been hit by a series of explosions and leaked radiation into the air, ground and sea in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago.

"The plant has not been stable," Kan's top spokesman, Yukio Edano, told reporters. "We have been asking residents not to enter the area as there is a huge risk to their safety.

"Today, as we have finished arrangements with local authorities, we have decided to designate the area an emergency area based on disaster law."

The government declared a 20 kilometre exclusion zone around the plant after the quake disaster, as well as a wider 30 kilometre radius in which people were first urged to stay indoors and later encouraged to also evacuate.

People in some towns further afield will also soon be told to leave because of the risks of long-term radiation exposure, the government has said.

Each household within the 20 kilometre area will be allowed to send one member back into their home for two hours to pick up personal belongings.

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Calif. court freezes assets of TV's 'tax lady' (AP)

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? A California court froze the assets and appointed a receiver Wednesday to run the business operated by Roni Deutch, a nationally known tax lawyer who gained a measure of fame on late-night television commercials.

Sacramento Superior Court Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ordered Deutch to appear in court June 10 for a hearing to decide if she should be fined and jailed for criminal contempt of court. She acted after the California attorney general said Deutch shredded documents and failed to promptly repay her clients in violation of a court order.

Deutch's attorneys did not return repeated telephone messages.

She once ran a business that brought in $25 million a year, according to court documents. She called herself "the tax lady, offered tax advice on national television shows and spent $3 million annually touting her services in cable television advertising.

The attorney general's office sued her for more than $34 million in August, saying her firm made false promises by saying it could help 99 percent of clients resolve tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service.

Chang last year ordered Deutch to make sweeping changes in how she does business. She ordered Deutch to repay her clients promptly and to preserve her business records for the state's lawsuit.

The judge acted Wednesday after the attorney general's office said Deutch violated both orders repeatedly.

"Deutch showed herself to be a predator for profit, preying on innocent, hard-working people who were simply hoping to settle their accounts with the IRS," Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. "By defrauding these victims, and then pleading poverty, she created a real danger that her clients will never receive their advance fees back."

The attorney general's office says Deutch's Sacramento County-based law firm shredded as many as 2.7 million pages of documents that could have been used as evidence in the state's lawsuit. It says she failed to repay about $435,000 to dissatisfied customers within 60 days in violation of the court order.

Instead, it says she shifted personal and business assets to herself and her creditors. Money from the sale of her house went to a creditor, while Deutch personally withdrew $241,000 from her business and personal bank accounts, the state says. It says she spent $21,000 on gifts to friends and family members and for a payment to a NASCAR racing team.

The receiver will run Deutch's business to make sure clients are repaid first, said attorney general's spokesman Jim Finefrock.

The state asked the judge to fine Deutch $1,000 and jail her for five days for each violation of last year's court order. That could include 29 separate instances of shredding documents and each time Deutch missed the 60-day window to repay a client, Finefrock said.

"It adds up to several hundred violations," he said.

In previous court filings, Deutch said her business drastically declined since the state sued. Though it still has 4,500 clients, Deutch said in a sworn declaration that new clients dropped from an average of 1,672 each month to just 84 in February.

Where once the firm took in $2 million a month, it is now bringing in $350,000 monthly, Deutch said.

She swore her firm was following the rules set by the judge.

Her declaration is attached to her motion asking Chang to modify the terms of her order so the firm can keep more of the money, collect more money from clients upfront, and take more time repaying clients.

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Afghan police: Taliban release Iranian hostages (AP)

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan ? A group of Iranian and Afghan road construction workers kidnapped earlier this week in western Afghanistan has been released, police said Wednesday.

The crew of at least 12 Iranians and two Afghans was driving toward its job site in a remote part of Farah province Monday when the men were ambushed and taken hostage. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and threatened to kill the men off one by one unless their company stopped work on the road.

Insurgents regularly target government projects such as roads as symbols of the central government they reject and have said those who work on such projects are collaborators, not civilians.

But the police were able to secure the release of all the captives with the help of local tribal elders, who acted as mediators with the insurgents, said provincial police chief Gen. Sayed Mohammad.

Three of the men were released late Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday, Mohammad said. He said that 13 Iranians had been held, while the Iranian government reported only 12 of its citizens taken hostage. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers was not clear.

No conditions were put on the release of the captives and no ransom was paid, Mohammad said.

The Iranian company, called Jahidi Nasri Tehran, has been contracted to produce 75 miles (121 kilometers) of road in Farah and has completed about half, according to provincial Public Works Ministry officials.

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Japan to enforce evacuation zone around plant: report (AFP)

TOKYO (AFP) ? Japan is to begin enforcing the exclusion zone around its crippled nuclear plant after midnight on Friday, a report said Wednesday, as worries mounted over the effects of long-term radiation exposure.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will announce the decision to designate the 20-kilometre (12-mile) area around the Fukushima complex legally out-of-bounds when he visits the area on Thursday, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

The government will allow one member of each family forced into shelters outside the zone to return home under supervision to pick up belongings, Kyodo said.

"The designation of the zone as off-limits is aimed at enhancing government control of the area to which evacuees have been temporarily returning home on their own to collect belongings despite fears of radiation, which continues to leak from the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant," the report said.

It was not immediately clear what punishment people violating the order could expect.

Workers have been grappling to secure damaged reactors at the plant, which was badly hit by the March 11 earthquake and massive tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast.

Cooling systems were knocked out, leaving the temperature of the nuclear cores to rise and setting off a scramble to prevent a meltdown.

People living within a 20-kilometre (12-mile) radius of the plant were ordered to leave, while those living up to 10 kilometres beyond that have been told to stay indoors.

Of 3,378 households visited by police in the 20-km ring from March 29 to April 18, 63 families remained, Kyodo said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference that Kan would make a one-day trip to the Fukushima prefecture on Thursday and would meet evacuees in the cities of Tamura and Koriyama.

"There are many people in shelters who had to be evacuated and only left with the clothes they were wearing," Edano was quoted by Kyodo as saying. "I believe it is the government's solemn duty to firmly support the lives of these people."

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Unprecedented attacks on media amid popular unrest (Reuters)

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Suppression of journalists amid popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa has been unprecedented, experts say, with more than 500 attacks -- some of them deadly -- documented by a media rights watchdog.

While the Committee to Protect Journalists said press freedom has improved in Egypt and Tunisia since protesters ousted the presidents of both countries this year, it described the situation as only graduating from "horrendous to bad."

But whether unrest in Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Saudi Arabia leads to greater democracy in the region, experts say access to social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook would help thwart traditionally tight censorship.

"It is not possible to stuff a sock in that many mouths," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa.

"There used to be a time when the number of mouths was limited and (governments) could shut all of them up all the time. That model is not longer viable," he said.

Dayem said of 14 journalists were killed worldwide this year with 10 of those deaths in the Middle East and North Africa. The hundreds of other attacks on the media in the region included detentions, destruction of equipment and death threats.

Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch deputy director of the North Africa division, said the uprising had led to a "net gain" for freedom of the media in the region.

"It's possible to disseminate information from places like Bahrain or Syria in a way that wasn't possible 10 years ago. It's just night and day comparison," Stork said.

"On balance definitely there's a freer exchange of information but not because governments are allowing it -- because they haven't figured out how to control it," he said.

CENSORSHIP LESS EFFECTIVE

Limits on the media would be much harder to maintain in the future, partly because of more access to cell phones and the Internet, said Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

"It's also because the 'Arab Revolts' have delegitimized censorship even more, just as they have delegitimized stealing elections and stealing public funds," Abrams said.

"Many governments will continue to try to intimidate journalists physically or through phony prosecutions ... but it will be less and less effective," he said.

However, Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that while some protesters were demanding more freedom for journalists, it was too early to tell what sort of progress might be made.

"We have seen the emergence of the blogger, the citizen journalist ... breaking through," he said.

Stork said while Egypt appeared to be moving in a positive direction, media freedom had been dealt a blow when the country's ruling military council demanded last month that coverage by Egyptian newspapers had to be approved by the military's Morale Affairs Directorate and intelligence.

"The military obviously doesn't like criticism or critical discussion and they have instructed the media not to engage in it and certainly the major outlets have complied," Stork said.

Dayem warned that if there was no change in government in some countries it could result in harsher media treatment, referring an unsuccessful popular uprising in Iran in 2009.

"That certainly hasn't resulted in a freer media," he said. "In fact, it's resulted in a harsher climate for the media in Iran and it has resulted almost directly in Iran being the world's worst jailer of journalists in 2010."

(Editing by Mark Egan and Bill Trott)

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22 Zeta suspects held in Mexico mass graves probe (AFP)

MEXICO CITY (AFP) ? Twenty-two suspected Zetas drug gang members have been held in the latest arrests over the killings of 145 people found in mass graves this month in northeast Mexico, the justice ministry has said.

The arrests brought the total to 55 detained, including 16 police officers and a suspected ringleader, for alleged involvement with the mass graves found in San Fernando, Tamaulipas state, near the US border.

Marines detained the 22 latest suspects, including five women, in an operation Friday. They were accused of involvement in organized crime, murder, kidnapping and violating firearms laws, a statement said.

A total of 145 bodies have now been unearthed from mass graves in San Fernando, which lies on a path regularly used by migrants heading for the United States.

Tamaulipas state has suffered an explosion of violence for more than a year blamed on battles between the Zetas -- a gang formed in the 1990s by ex-elite soldiers -- and their former bosses, the powerful Gulf cartel.

Authorities also blame the Zetas for the massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas last August.

More than 34,600 people have died in Mexican drug violence since 2006, according to official figures, amid a widespread military crackdown on organized crime.

Ten outlaws died in a shootout with soldiers Tuesday in the eastern port city of Veracruz, where the Zetas and Gulf gangs are also fighting for turf, local authorities said in a statement.

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HK activists urge boycott over China crackdown (AFP)

HONG KONG (AFP) ? Hong Kong rights groups on Wednesday urged the territory's residents to stop travelling to mainland China in protest at a crackdown on dissidents and activists.

In recent weeks, scores of lawyers, dissidents and campaigners have been taken into police custody, put under house arrest, or faced criminal charges in Beijing's onslaught against domestic detractors.

They include Ai Weiwei, a prominent artist and harsh critic of China's Communist Party leaders, who was detained in early April for unspecified "economic crimes", sparking worldwide condemnation.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, has maintained a semi-autonomous status since its return to China in 1997, with a separate legal system and civil liberties not seen on the mainland.

On Wednesday, activists from six rights groups called on Hong Kongers to send a strong message to the Chinese government by cancelling their travel plans during the forthcoming Easter and Labour Day holidays.

"We are asking the people of Hong Kong to stop going to China," said Lee Cheuk-yan, a prominent lawmaker and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic and Democractic Movements in China.

"We are telling them there will be travel dangers and they cannot express themselves freely there," said Lee, describing the recent roundup of activists as as the "worst" since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Lee and representatives from Amnesty International and the Hong Kong Journalists Association, among others, distributed leaflets outside an office of the government-linked China Travel Service.

China's crackdown followed anonymous online calls urging activists and dissidents to stage "Jasmine" protests similar to the unrest that has swept the Arab world, toppling some authoritarian regimes.

A top Chinese lawyer who was known for taking on sensitive rights-related cases returned home Tuesday night after two months in police custody, but others are still being held.

Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders said more than 50 activists have been detained and many more placed under house arrest. Of those detained, the group said nearly 40 have been criminally charged.

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Mexican troops kill 10 gunmen in Gulf coast state (AP)

By MIGUEL ANGEL HERNANDEZ, Associated Press

VERACRUZ, Mexico ? Troops on Tuesday clashed with gunmen trying to establish a base in a city in eastern Mexico, killing 10 alleged assailants, the state government said.

Soldiers and marines were checking on a report of armed men in the Infonavit Rio Medio neighborhood in Veracruz when they came under fire, the Veracruz state government said in a statement. The troops then gave chase after some of the gunmen fled the scene and another shootout ensued, it said.

The troops also seized three automatic rifles, three police uniforms and two cars, it said.

The Red Cross in Veracruz said in a statement that a stray bullet from the gunfight entered a home, hitting a man in the arm.

Veracruz is one of several eastern Mexican states where the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels are fighting for control. The state and its largest city have the same name.

Also Tuesday, Mexico's Defense Department reported it had captured nine suspects in connection with the killings of at least 145 people whose bodies were found starting early this month in pits in the township of San Fernando, in the border state of Tamaulipas.

The suspects were captured Monday in the Tamaulipas state capital, Ciudad Victoria. Three guns were seized during the arrests. They included alleged members of the Zetas cartel. Four of the suspects are women.

The Zetas allegedly pulled passengers off buses in San Fernando in late March, possibly as part of a forced recruitment effort.

The statement said the suspects confessed to participating in the kidnapping of bus passengers by the Zetas "so that a member of that organization could select people."

The statement did not specify what they were being selected for.

The killings occurred in the same township where authorities say the Zetas killed 72 Central American migrants in August. Those migrants were allegedly killed after refusing to work for the Zetas.

The federal Attorney General's Office said Tuesday that another 22 people had been ordered held pending investigation in the San Fernando case, bringing the total of suspects currently held for investigation to 55.

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Toyota extends N. American production cuts (AP)

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT ? Toyota Motor Corp. has extended production cuts at its North American factories into early June as it struggles to deal with parts shortages caused by the earthquake that hit Japan.

The disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami continue to spread. Toyota has warned dealers to expect shortages well into this summer, and has changed paint colors on many models because of chemical shortages from a supplier. Even U.S. automakers are feeling the pain, trimming production schedules at many plants. Ford has stopped making trucks in "tuxedo black" because of a pigment shortage.

Despite the disruptions, Toyota promised no layoffs and said it would be ready when parts start flowing again.

Toyota said in a statement that production will be suspended in North America on Mondays and Fridays from April 26 through June 3. During the same period, plants will run at half capacity on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Has only just recently restarted production in Japan, opening plants on Monday at half their production capacity. Japanese Plants will stop production for spring holidays on May 9.

In addition, U.S. production will be suspended the week of May 30 after the Memorial Day holiday. Canadian production will be suspended the week of May 23 in conjunction with Victoria Day. The company's 25,000 workers in North America will report to work and use the time for training to make improvements at Toyota's 13 factories in North America, the company said.

"We are trying to continue production as much as possible and keep our work force intact in order to facilitate a smooth transition back to full production when all parts are available," Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of Toyota's North American manufacturing, said in a statement.

The world's No. 1 automaker last week announced Monday and Friday suspensions from April 15 to 25. Plans after June 3 will be determined later, the company said.

A March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged auto parts plants in northeastern Japan, causing the parts shortages that have affected nearly all other automakers.

The North American plants have been using parts in their inventory or relying on those that were shipped before the earthquake.

Toyota gets only about 15 percent of its parts from Japan for cars and trucks built in North America. Those parts include electronic and rubber components, and a paint additive.

Toyota resumed car production at all of its plants in Japan on Monday for the first time since March 11, but said the factories will run at half capacity due to parts shortages.

The company said it was still struggling to secure around 150 types of auto components.

The twin disasters had forced Toyota to shut down all output in Japan except at three plants, which have been running at limited capacity since late March and early April to produce hot-selling Prius, Lexus and Corolla cars.

Shortages of parts from Japan are also affecting other automakers.

Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. recently said that several North American plants would be closed for part of this month. Chrysler Group LLC is cutting overtime at plants in Canada and Mexico to conserve parts from Japan.

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Haiti president-elect to meet Clinton on US visit (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) ? Haiti's president-elect Michel Martelly will meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, setting the tone of a key relationship for America's poorest neighbor.

The former entertainer, who assumes office on May 14 providing his poll victory is confirmed, will also meet the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, according to Martelly's office.

Martelly faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, which is struggling to recover from a January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 225,000 people and left the capital in ruins.

More than 750,000 people are still homeless and an ongoing cholera epidemic has killed more than 4,750 people since mid-October.

The 50-year-old former carnival singer, popularly known as "Sweet Micky," defeated former first lady Mirlande Manigat in a March 20 run-off after a months-long electoral process marked by violence and allegations of fraud.

The meeting with Clinton will reaffirm the "United States' continued commitment to Haiti's reconstruction and economic development," said acting US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner in a statement.

Martelly has said that in his first six months as president he will focus on moving people out of tents, the cholera epidemic and boosting the country's agricultural production.

Preliminary presidential results published April 4 showed Martelly received 67.57 percent of the March 20 run-off vote against former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who finished with 31.74 percent. Official results are set to be released Wednesday, while Martelly is in the United States.

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Haiti president-elect to visit US (AFP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) ? Haiti's Michel Martelly will visit the United States on Tuesday following his victory in a presidential run-off as he seeks to rebuild the earthquake-shattered country, his office said.

Martelly, who will assume office on May 14 following his victory in last month's vote, will meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, it said.

The talks will focus on "job creation, education, security, reconstruction and health," it said in a statement.

The trip will allow Martelly to "reiterate his message that the government will focus its efforts and energy on reconstruction, boosting the economy and insuring that Haitian children have access to basic education."

The 50-year-old former carnival singer, popularly known as "Sweet Micky," roundly defeated former first lady Mirlande Manigat in a March 20 run-off after a months-long electoral process marked by violence and allegations of fraud.

He now faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Western Hemisphere's poorest country following a January 2010 earthquake that killed some 220,000 people and flattened much of the capital.

Little reconstruction took place under the current president Rene Preval, and a cholera outbreak has killed almost 5,000 people since October as it has spread through the country's sprawling tent camps.

The international community has pledged billions of dollars to speed Haiti's recovery, but most of it has been held up as donors await the orderly transfer of political power.

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12 Iranian engineers kidnapped in Afghanistan (AP)

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran ? Armed assailants kidnapped 12 Iranian engineers building a road in western Afghanistan, said Iranian and Afghan officials Monday.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the Iranian engineers were working for a construction company in the western Farah Province and the incident was under investigation by Iranian and Afghan authorities.

Militants in the area claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and threatened to kill the hostages if work on the road is not halted, said Gen. Sayed Mohammad, the police chief for Farah province.

"For the time being the road construction has stopped. Police have launched a search operation in the area where they were kidnapped," he said.

Mohammad added that according to his information, there were 13 Iranians taken along with two Afghans while driving toward their work site in two vehicles.

The reason for the discrepancy in the numbers was not immediately clear.

The director of public works for the province, Ghulman Hazrat Shahiq, said they worked for a company called Jahidi Nasri Tehran, contracted to create 75 miles (121 kilometers) of road in Farah and has completed about half.

Kidnappings ? mostly of Afghans ? for ransom or for political reasons are common in Afghanistan, where violence has made efforts to rebuild the country costly and dangerous.

_____

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

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Queen's trip ends 'years of division': Irish PM (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) ? Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland next month will symbolise an "end to years of division", Irish leader Enda Kenny said as he met with British counterpart David Cameron in London.

Kenny did not reveal whether the queen would apologise for the 1920 massacre of 14 Gaelic football fans by British troops, but said she would visit "some very sensitive places", including Croke Park, where the killings took place.

"It is symbolic of the end to years of division and the start of a brand-new relationship," Kenny told Tuesday's Times newspaper.

Kenny cited the silence which greeted British national anthem "God Save the Queen" when it was played before a rugby game between England and Ireland at Croke Park two years ago as evidence that the two nations had "grown up".

The queen will make the visit on May 17-20 in the first state visit by a British monarch since the republic gained independence in 1922.

She will be accompanied by her husband Prince Philip for a visit which will be surrounded by tight security following the murder of a policeman in neighbouring Northern Ireland this month.

The royals will be guests of honour at a state dinner at Dublin Castle, which was the seat of power at the time of British colonial rule of Ireland.

The last visit to Ireland by a reigning British monarch was by the 84-year-old queen's grandfather, George V, in 1911, a decade before the Republic of Ireland won independence from Britain.

The visit to Ireland will take place three weeks after the queen's grandson William marries Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29.

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Security teams gear up for UK royal wedding (AP)

By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press

LONDON ? Public areas near Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey in London are being checked by special security teams in advance of the April 29 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Police said Tuesday they had checked areas along the parade route for explosives that might have been hidden in drains, lampposts, traffic lights and other possible hiding places.

The goal of the checks, expected to continue until the big event is concluded, is to make the route the royal couple will use as secure as possible.

Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Fairman, who is coordinating the sweeps, said all vulnerable areas will be checked.

"Officers are trained to be vigilant and check areas where items may have been hidden," he said.

The wedding, one of the most anticipated public events in recent years, will draw an extraordinary collection of royals, politicians and VIPs included Queen Elizabeth II and roughly 50 foreign heads of state. That poses a severe security challenge, especially since the royal entourage will use a parade route that has been publicly announced several months ahead of time.

Police expect huge crowds to throng the parade route from the abbey to the palace, where the newlyweds are expected to emerge on a balcony in front of the multitudes for the traditional post-wedding kiss. They are likely to be joined by other senior royals.

In addition to the security sweeps, Scotland Yard plans to identify a small number of individuals thought to have an unhealthy obsession with the royal family and conduct surveillance to make sure they don't cause trouble on the wedding day.

Police have said that unstable individuals may pose a more severe threat than international terrorists, but they say they are confident they can handle the crush of onlookers expected that day.

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Fla. boy, 16, accused of killing British tourists (AP)

SARASOTA, Fla. ? Police said Monday they were trying to find out why two British tourists were in a crime-ridden public housing complex late at night before they were fatally shot over the weekend, allegedly by a 16-year-old boy.

Sarasota Police Chief Mikal Holloway said investigators believe James M. Cooper, 25, and James Thomas Kouzaris, 24, had gone to the Newtown neighborhood voluntarily before they were killed early Saturday. The 16-year-old suspect was arrested about 24 hours later, but police won't say what evidence led to them to the teen.

The boy, who police have yet to identify, was being held in a juvenile facility. His mother and a public defender represented him in court Monday. Prosecutors have until May 8 to decide whether to charge him as an adult.

Officers responded to a 911 call at about 3 a.m. Saturday reporting a man had collapsed on the street and was bleeding. The other man was discovered lying across the street.

"The investigation is ongoing, and we do believe there are more facts that will be forthcoming that will help us with the investigation," Holloway said at a news conference Monday.

Holloway said police "have their suspicions" as to why the men were in the Newtown neighborhood north of downtown, "but at this time, it would be unfair to state those." The area where the men were killed is made up of low-slung cinder-block apartment buildings and is far removed from the beaches and other tourist attractions. It is known for its drug trade and crime, although officials say the crime rate there has dipped in recent years.

Cooper and Kouzaris had recently graduated from college and were on vacation in the United States, Holloway said. Multiple British press reports and Kouzaris' Facebook page indicated the two had attended the University of Sheffield together.

Sarasota Mayor Kelly Kirschner said residents and visitors to Sarasota should expect to be safe in any neighborhood at any time of the day or night.

"It's a gut check for us as a community, with what we're doing and how we're dealing with the challenges we face, particularly in (that neighborhood)," Kirschner said of the city's first slayings of 2011.

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UN chief says to give humanitarian aid in Tripoli (AP)

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BUDAPEST, Hungary ? U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the organization has reached an agreement with the Libyan government to provide humanitarian aid in the country's capital.

Ban said Monday during a visit to Hungary that the deal to establish a "humanitarian presence" in Tripoli was completed Sunday by his special envoy to Libya and Valerie Amos, the U.N. humanitarian chief.

Ban said the U.N. already is providing aid in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. He said the basic needs of tens of thousands of people in Libya are not being met.

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Middletons: Close-knit clan with commercial savvy (AP)

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

LONDON ? In joining the royal clan, Kate Middleton is going from her family business to Britain's first family ? nicknamed The Firm.

Her own background should have helped prepare her for the formidable challenge.

The Middleton clan is blessed with strong ties and commercial savvy. Kate's parents, Michael and Carole, went from airline employees to owners of a successful small business who gained their children access to Britain's loftiest social circles.

Michael Middleton was a flight dispatcher and Carole Goldsmith a flight attendant before they married and, in the 1980s, set up Party Pieces, a business selling balloons, candles, streamers and other mail-order party supplies.

They did well enough to move from a semidetached suburban house to a large home in the affluent village of Bucklebury, with children Kate, now 29, Pippa ? now 27 and her sister's maid of honor ? and James, 24. Neighbors speak well of them and guard the family's privacy. Resident Brian Ward remembered Middleton as "a very ordinary girl" who would often pop into the local pub.

The Middletons strive to give their children every advantage in life. The siblings attended Marlborough College, a 30,000 pound ($47,000) a year boarding school attended by some of Britain's wealthiest people. Its alumni include Prince William's cousin, Princess Eugenie.

Kate went on to the 600-year-old St. Andrews University in Scotland, where her fellow students included ? fatefully ? Prince William, the second in line to the throne.

The family also owns a million-dollar apartment in London's tony Chelsea area, where the children have lived while working in the capital.

All have also worked for the family firm.

Affluent as the Middletons are, they are ordinary and middle-class enough to seem to many like a welcome breath of non-aristocratic fresh air for the royal family.

"I think Kate's family journey mirrors that of millions of British people, who have gentrified over the last century," said Claudia Joseph, author of "Kate: The Making of a Princess."

Kate's ancestors on her mother's side were manual laborers and coal miners, a fact trumpeted in tabloid headlines like "From pit to palace." The family runs a small business, like many other Britons.

Kate even has an embarrassing wayward uncle, Gary Goldsmith, who lives in a house in Spain called "La Maison de Bang Bang" and was filmed in 2009 by an undercover reporter apparently taking cocaine and bragging about his royal connections.

However, Kate's paternal ancestors, the Middletons, have been affluently middle-class for more than a century: merchants, lawyers and mill owners in the northern English county of Yorkshire who amassed comfortable fortunes, sent their children to private schools and became pillars of the community. Their money helped Michael and Carole Middleton give their children a leg-up.

In the stratified world of the British upper crust, Middleton's mercantile origins still elicit some snobbery. There were snide comments after Carole Middleton was snapped chewing nicotine gum at William's military college graduation ceremony, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II. There's the oft-repeated anecdote about William's posh friends quipping "doors to manual" as a gibe at her former airline job.

The family has kept a dignified silence, not speaking to the press apart from a brief statement expressing delight at Kate's engagement and welcoming William to the family.

"I think the snobbery comes from a few stuffy courtiers who are disgruntled that William has married a 'commoner,'" Joseph said in an email interview. "But I think the royal family is delighted that William is marrying the woman he loves. You can tell by the reaction of Harry, who welcomed Kate into the family like a sister, that she has won the Windsors over."

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