Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) speaks to the crowd at Ohio Republican Sen. candidate Josh Mandel's election night rally in Columbus, Ohio, November 6, 2012.

WASHINGTON/CLEVELAND | Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:45pm EDT

WASHINGTON/CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Senator Rob Portman became the most prominent Republican lawmaker to back gay rights when he reversed his opposition to same-sex marriage on Friday, two years after his son told him he was gay.

In a newspaper opinion piece on Friday, shortly before the Supreme Court is to hear arguments in two key cases on the issue, the Ohio senator said he now supports gay marriage.

"I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married," Portman wrote in an op-ed piece in Ohio's Columbus Dispatch.

"That isn't how I've always felt. As a Congressman, and more recently as a Senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then, something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way."

Portman's 21-year-old son, Will, told the senator and his wife in February 2011 that he was gay and had been "since he could remember."

It was the latest show of public support for gay rights. President Barack Obama announced last year that he approved of gay marriage, and in his inaugural speech in January, he equated gay rights with civil rights.

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments later this month in two cases related to gay marriage. One challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In a related case, the court will also hear arguments that question a California law, known as Proposition 8, banning gay marriage.

Portman was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper as saying he now believes same-sex couples who marry in states where it is legal should be eligible for the same federal benefits granted to heterosexual couples.

Portman served as trade representative and then White House budget director under former President George W. Bush.

He was among the front-runners to be Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick during the 2012 election, but budget hawk Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin eventually got the nod.

PARTY SPLIT

The Republican Party has become increasingly split on the gay marriage issue, with some arguing that socially conservative positions such as opposition to same-sex marriage are contributing to the party's election losses.

An early Republican favorite for the 2016 presidential race, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, staged a defense of traditional marriage in a high-profile speech to a conservative conference on Thursday.

"Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot," the 41-year-old Cuban-American told the Conservative Political Action Conference.

But Republican strategist John Feehery said Portman's announcement could change attitudes in the party.

"I think so. The fact of the matter is Dick Cheney has been out there on this. Ted Olson, Rob Portman. And what's becoming clear is if you know somebody who happens to be gay, you feel much differently about this issue. The fact is we all know somebody who is gay. So I think this is going to be another indication that times are changing on this issue." he said.

In his op-ed piece, Portman wrote of how he has "wrestled" with reconciling his Christian faith with the desire for his son to have the same opportunities as his siblings.

"Ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God," he said.

Keith Cottrell, 40, an IT professional who lives in Cleveland, said he didn't "see much nobility" in Portman's decision because he only lined up behind gay rights after learning of his son's sexuality.

"I mean I'll gladly take his vote but would we applaud someone who constantly voted against women's rights if they changed their mind after having a daughter?" Cottrell said.

Portman said he consulted clergy members and friends including former Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney, who has an openly gay daughter, has reiterated his support for gay marriage over the past several years, despite his deeply conservative views on many issues.

Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, an influential group of social conservatives in Iowa, said Portman had been "short-sighted" for changing his views.

"I don't see the Republican Party any time soon abandoning his stance on marriage. I see more than anything it is emboldened in their stance on marriage," he said. "The last time I checked, God's word was the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow," he said.

Portman's new position was supported by former opponent David Axelrod, who was Obama's senior campaign advisor.

"Courageous decision by Rob Portman to endorse same-sex marriage, guided by the love of a parent rather than by party ideology," Axelrod tweeted.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Bell and Samuel P. Jacobs; Editing by Vicki Allen and Bernadette Baum)

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie claps while giving his State of the State address in the assembly chamber in Trenton, New Jersey, January 8, 2013.

WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:10pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is the Republican best placed to compete against potential Democratic presidential candidates, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday that also underscored Democrat Hillary Clinton's strength should she run.

As Republicans gather in the Washington area this weekend to ponder their future after losing the 2012 presidential race, the poll showed how far the party has to go to regain its footing and be competitive at the national level again.

The online survey found that Christie is preferred narrowly when matched up against Vice President Joe Biden, 34 percent to 33 percent, and Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, 36 percent to 32 percent.

Against Clinton, however, Christie fares far worse. The former secretary of state leads by 48 percent to 28 percent.

The brash, portly New Jersey governor has not said whether he will run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

A moderate who was criticized by some Republicans for praising President Barack Obama's response to Superstorm Sandy last year, Christie was not invited to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference this week.

"Christie is really the only one in the head-to-heads who gains any ground against the Democratic candidates - not against Clinton, who seems to be the favorite, although we are so far out that these numbers are very soft," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

Among possible Republican candidates, the leader of the 2016 pack is Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee and 2012 vice presidential running mate for Mitt Romney.

Ryan has been in the news lately for proposing a budget blueprint that would make deep cuts in government spending as a way to balance the U.S. budget in 10 years. The Obama White House has denounced the Ryan budget as draconian.

When Republican and independent voters were asked about which Republican they would vote for in 2016, Ryan took a 22 percent share. Sixteen percent said Christie and 14 percent backed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is not believed to be running in 2016 at this stage.

Rounding out the field were Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 9 percent, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 6 percent and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal at 3 percent.

CLINTON VERY STRONG

The poll showed just how strong Clinton's name recognition is less than two months after the former first lady ended her four years as secretary of state.

Clinton leads the Democratic field at 51 percent, far outpacing Biden, who was at 12 percent. She leads all potential Republican challengers by wide margins.

Cuomo, who is said to be considering a run, is way back at 4 percent, as is Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker (4 percent), Virginia Senator Mark Warner (2 percent), Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (1 percent) and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (1 percent).

Clinton has said she wants some time off to rest after her grueling global travel schedule and consider her next move. Medical issues, including a blood clot in her head, complicated the final weeks of her time at the State Department.

A surprisingly strong showing in the poll came from Rice, who was secretary of state for Republican President George W. Bush. She was a well-received speaker at last year's Republican National Convention.

The poll found that she was viewed favorably by 71 percent of Americans, including 80 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of independents.

The survey said 29 percent have an unfavorable view of Rice, who last year was accepted as one of the first women to join the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia where the Masters tournament is played.

For the survey, 1,224 Americans aged 18 and over were interviewed online, including 511 Democrats, 447 Republicans and 162 independents.

The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos poll is measured by a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for all, 4.9 percentage points for Democrats, 5.3 percentage points for Republicans, and 8.8 percentage points for independents.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Alistair Bell; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of United Nations (UN) Women Michelle Bachelet (C) of Chile dances with women upon her arrival at Ushafa pottery village during an official visit to Nigeria's capital Abuja January 11, 2013. Picture taken January 11, 2013.

UNITED NATIONS | Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:25pm EDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. policy-making body agreed upon a declaration Friday urging an end to violence against women and girls despite concerns from conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican about references to women's sexual and reproductive rights.

Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan, along with Honduras and the Vatican, expressed reservations about the declaration of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, but did not block adoption of the 18-page text.

While the declaration of the commission, created in 1946 for the advancement of women, is non-binding, diplomats and rights activists say it carries enough global weight to pressure countries to improve the lives of women and girls.

"People worldwide expected action, and we didn't fail them. Yes, we did it," Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and head of U.N. Women, which supports the commission, told delegates on Friday after two weeks on negotiations on the text.

Shannon Kowalski, director of advocacy and policy at the International Women's Health Coalition, said the declaration was a victory for women and girls, but could have gone further to recognize violence faced by lesbians and transgender people.

"Governments have agreed to take concrete steps to end violence," she said. "For the first time, they agreed to make sure that women who have been raped can get critical health care services, like emergency contraception and safe abortion."

Earlier in the talks Iran, Russia, the Vatican and others had threatened to derail the declaration with concerns about references such as access to emergency contraception, abortion and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, activists said.

A proposed amendment by Egypt, that would have allowed states to avoid implementing the declaration if they clashed with national laws, religious or cultural values, failed. Some diplomats said it would have undermined the whole document.

But on Friday, Egypt's delegation said it would not stand in the way of the declaration for the sake of women's empowerment. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Islamists had warned on Thursday that the declaration could destroy society.

'FREE OF FEAR'

The United States welcomed the declaration but lamented that references were not made to lesbian and transgender women and that the term "intimate partner violence" was not used to capture the range of relationships in which abuse can happen.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice last week boasted that all 50 U.S. states have laws treating date rape or spousal rape as equal to that of rape by a stranger. In contrast Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood decried the idea of allowing women to prosecute their husbands for rape or sexual harassment.

Last year, disagreements over sexual and reproductive rights issues prevented the commission from agreeing upon a declaration of a theme of empowering rural women. The commission was also unable to reach a deal a decade ago when it last focused on the theme of ending violence against women and girls.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said states now had a responsibility to turn the 2013 declaration into reality.

"Violence against women is a heinous human rights violation, global menace, a public health threat and a moral outrage," Ban said in a statement. "No matter where she lives, no matter what her culture, no matter what her society, every woman and girl is entitled to live free of fear."

Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig said the declaration was balanced and strong. "It sends a much-needed message to the women around the world: your rights are crucial," he posted on Twitter (@GermanyUN)

The full declaration of the Commission on the Status of Women can be seen at: www.unwomen.org

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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1 of 3. Military cadets practise a drill for Friday's parade to honour Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez, at the military academy in Caracas March 14, 2013.

CARACAS | Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:26pm EDT

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were on the streets again on Friday at a funeral parade for Hugo Chavez amid opposition protests that the government was exploiting his death to win the election.

Chavez's remains were transported for about 12 miles through Caracas from an army academy to a military museum on a hillside where the former soldier launched his political career with a failed coup in 1992.

The events were the culmination of 10 days of official mourning in the South American OPEC nation led by the flamboyant socialist president for 14 years until his death from cancer.

A state funeral was held a week ago.

"You are a giant," his daughter Maria Gabriela said in an emotional religious service before the procession began.

"Fly freely and breathe deep with the winds of the hurricane. We will care for your fatherland and defend your legacy. You will never leave, your flame is in our hands."

Though his remains will for now be placed in the museum on the edge of the populous January 23 neighborhood - arguably the most militantly pro-Chavez zone in the country - there was still doubt over his final resting place.

The government wanted to embalm Chavez "for eternity" in the style of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin and China's Mao Zedong. But embarrassingly, officials said the process should have started earlier and confirmed on Friday that it had been ruled out.

A Russian medical team told the government the body would have to be taken to Russia for seven to eight months to carry out the procedure, Venezuela's information minister said.

Parliament had been due to debate a motion this week to amend the constitution so that Chavez's body could be buried in the National Pantheon, close to the remains of his idol and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The constitution states that honor can only be accorded to leaders 25 years after their death.

But the debate was delayed amid talk Chavez's corpse might instead be taken to his hometown Sabaneta, in the Venezuelan "llanos," or plains, to fulfill his oft-stated wish to lie alongside the grandmother who raised him in a mud-floor home.

Crowds of red-shirted "Chavistas" lined the streets for Friday's parade. Some wore headbands with the name of acting President Nicolas Maduro, who was picked by Chavez as his preferred successor. He is running in an April 14 vote.

"Chavez, I promise you, my vote is for Maduro," read the headbands, repeating a slogan at pro-government rallies.

"I've got 500 and I'm going to sell them all easily. Chavez left Maduro in charge and he will be president," said Miguel Angel, 43, selling the headbands.

'PERVERSE PROSELYTISM'

The opposition, whose presidential candidate Henrique Capriles faces a tough battle to beat Maduro amid so much emotion over Chavez, says the government is mawkishly protracting the mourning and exploiting his coffin as a campaign prop.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor who views Brazil as his political and economic model, plans to begin campaigning around the country over the weekend.

"We urge those indiscriminately using the president's name for the capture of votes to halt this perverse method of electoral proselytism," an opposition communique said.

"Let's have a decent campaign, without unfair advantages or abuses of power."

That, many analysts say, looks unlikely given the government's vastly superior financial resources and pro-government supporters' dominance of state institutions.

Fighting back against that impression, however, the government says Capriles is a well-financed puppet of both Venezuela's powerful and wealthy elite and the U.S. government.

The deification of Chavez in death has taken surreal turns.

Maduro suggested that in heaven Chavez helped persuade Christ to choose a Latin American pope.

And the state oil company PDVSA has been distributing a flyer titled "Chavez Crucified" amplifying the government's accusation that he may have been infected with cancer by his enemies.

"Chavez is a Christ, he suffered for his people, he extinguished himself in their service, he suffered his own C Calvary, he was assassinated by imperialists, he died young ... and he performed miracles in life," it said.

That level of eulogy is drawing scorn in some circles for a man who, though loved by millions of Venezuela's poor for his welfare policies and down-to-earth style, was also hated as an authoritarian bully by large segments of society.

The election campaign has started in a nasty atmosphere, with both camps accusing each other of dirty tricks, and Capriles and Maduro landing highly personalized blows.

Photos of guns aimed at TVs showing Capriles have been circulating, while an opposition newspaper this week juxtaposed a photo of Maduro next to Hitler giving a Nazi salute.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who is trumpeting his working-class roots like Chavez, has a solid lead over Capriles of more than 10 percentage points, according to two recent opinion polls. Both came before Chavez's death.

At stake in the upcoming election is not only the future of Chavez's leftist revolution but also the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of leftist allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela boasts the world's largest oil reserves.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis and Mario Naranjo; Editing by Vicki Allen and Lisa Shumaker)

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JK Shin, President and head of IT and Mobile Communication Division, introduces Samsung Electronics Co's latest Galaxy S4 phone during its launch at the Radio City Music Hall in New York March 14, 2013.

SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:48pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Samsung's newest, feature-packed Galaxy S4 may put pressure on Apple Inc to accelerate its pace of smartphone design and venture into cheaper devices - both departures from usual practice.

The latest Galaxy, unwrapped with much fanfare in New York on Thursday, out-does the iPhone in most technical aspects. But the challenges it encapsulates run deeper than just a simple specifications comparison.

"It would be overstatement to say Apple is far behind," Charles Golvin, analyst with Forrester, said, but it does need to note the quickening pace of competitive devices being released.

"If anything, what Apple needs to respond to is the cadence of their own releases, probably a completely new design every two years and a sort of speed bump every year is not an adequate cadence for Apple to remain at the forefront of smartphone innovation today."

Samsung's apparent ability to go toe-to-toe with Apple on cutting-edge smartphones may prompt the U.S. titan to finally make its own assault on the lower-end of the market that it has famously stayed away from -- not least to get into untapped markets like China and India.

Many analysts now say Apple has to respond in force to Samsung and other rivals that are grabbing attention. Much of Wall Street is now looking ahead to the next iPhone, but expectations are muted.

Once the darling of Wall Street, Apple has in six months seen its shares fall 30 percent from a high of $705. Its Maps software was panned for inaccuracies; its once-reliable financial results, that rarely failed to surpass Wall Street estimates, missed analysts' expectations.

IN A RUT

Apple appears stuck in an iPhone product cycle, with a new phone typically launched in the second half. In past years, the iPhone has gotten a complete redesign only every two years.

Brian White, analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, who views the Samsung Galaxy S4 as a refresh and "not a game changer," said smartphone technology is now improving so fast that timetables put Apple at a disadvantage.

More importantly, White said, Apple needs to broaden its portfolio and play in more smartphone categories as the high-end market could soon be saturated, and get into new categories such as the oft-rumored television or a smart watch.

"They have all the components of the magic potion, which is the hardware-software ecosystem," he said. "All they need to do is take that potion and put it in a different segment of the iPhone market."

While many on Wall Street believe the quickest way to penetrate fast-growing markets like India and China is a cheaper iPhone, the risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalize demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.

Apple's vice-like grip on its ecosystem - with the closely managed app store and its seamless integration with the hardware - is still seen as its biggest strength, one that Samsung is trying to emulate with a larger investment in software and connectivity. The Korean giant is also emphasizing its own mobile "Samsung Hub" rather than the Google Play store that most other Android adopters point to.

The iPhone has seen its sales increase to 125 million in fiscal 2012 from 40 million in fiscal 2010. But in 2012, Samsung became the No.1 in the global smartphone market with 30.3 percent share followed by Apple with 19 percent share.

Samsung's rapid rise is partly helped by the fact that it bombards the market with close to 40 versions tweaked for regional and consumer tastes, from high-end to cheaper models.

Samsung's momentum is a major issue for Apple, Ben Reitzes, analyst with Barclays, who is expecting Apple to launch a lower-end iPhone globally this summer.

Apple declined to comment on Friday. But a day before Samsung's launch, marketing chief Phil Schiller attacked Google's Android operating system, saying that the majority of its users were stuck on older versions. He also said Apple's internal research showed four times as many consumers were switching to iOS from Android than vice versa.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Edwin Chan and Leslie Gevirtz)

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A electron microscope image of a coronavirus is seen in this undated picture provided by the Health Protection Agency in London February 19, 2013.

LONDON | Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:38pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have worked out how a deadly new virus which was unknown in humans until last year is able to infect human cells and cause severe, potentially fatal damage to the lungs.

In one of the first detailed studies of the virus - which emerged in the Middle East and has so far infected 15 people worldwide, killing nine of them - Dutch researchers identified a cell surface protein it uses to enter and infect human cells.

The finding, published in the journal Nature, came as the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the 15th case of the virus, known as novel coronavirus or NCoV, in a male patient in Saudi Arabia who died on March 2.

Other cases have been in Jordan and Qatar, and in patients in Germany and Britain linked to travel in the Middle East.

NCoV is from the same family of viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that first emerged in Asia in 2003.

The WHO first issued an international alert about it in September after it was identified in a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia.

A study published last month found that NCoV was well adapted to infecting human cells and may be treatable with medicines similar to the ones used for SARS, which killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected.

In this latest study, led by Bart Haagmans at the Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands, researchers set out to find how the virus got into cells - which receptors it used - and then to find out where in the body those receptors were common.

POTENTIAL VACCINES

"Once you can identify the receptor and you know the distribution of the receptor in the body, then you can get more information on the pathogenesis (the way it infects people) of the virus and the possibility for transmission," Haagmans said in a telephone interview.

Researchers identified the key receptor for the disease as a cell surface protein called dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4).

They also found cells containing DPP4 receptors were common in the lower respiratory tract but not in the upper respiratory tract - giving clues to why the virus causes illness in the lungs rather than in the nose and throat as a cold virus would.

The findings should help researchers find ways of developing potential drugs or vaccines to block the DPP4 receptors and prevent infection, Haagmans said.

A few drugs that block DPP4 receptors are already on the market, licensed for use in diabetes, but Haagmans said his team already tried using those to stop the virus in laboratory tests and found they did not work.

He said, however, that the team was working with other molecules that might block the receptors and could form the basis for developing a potential vaccine.

Initial analysis by scientists at Britain's Health Protection Agency last year found that NCoV's closest relatives were most probably bat viruses.

Yet further work by a research team in Germany suggests NCoV may have come through an intermediary - possibly goats.

Haagmans said since DPP4 receptors were also present in other species, including bats, his findings showed it was feasible the virus came from bats. He said the idea that goats may have been an intermediary also looked feasible.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Pravin Char)

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U.S. Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 4, 2013.

WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:30pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will press China to take "serious steps" to stop cyber attacks directed at the United States and urge the administration of new Chinese President Xi Jinping to accelerate economic reforms, a U.S. official said on Friday.

Lew's visit to Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday comes at a crucial time, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "China is undergoing their once-in-a-decade leadership transition and, of course, their reform process is at a crossroads."

"It's important to deepen our relationship with China's new leadership team at this time," the official said.

Lew lacks the international stature of his predecessor, Timothy Geithner, and is signaling the importance the United States put on its economic relationship with China by making his first international trip as secretary to Beijing.

Secretary of State John Kerry in coming weeks will also make his first trip to China since taking office last month.

Both Kerry and Lew will host their Chinese counterparts in Washington in the middle of this year for the annual U.S-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the official said.

China's legislature formally chose Li Keqiang as premier on Friday, installing the English-speaking bureaucrat as the man in charge of the world's second-largest economy.

President Barack Obama raised U.S. concerns about computer hacking in a phone call with Xi on Thursday, just days after U.S. intelligence leaders said for the first time that cyber attacks and cyber espionage had supplanted terrorism as the top security threat facing the United States.

"We will press China to take serious steps to investigate and put a stop to these activities and to engage with us in a constructive direct dialogue to establish acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace, recognizing it is a growing challenge for both of us," the senior U.S. official said.

Lew will also press China to allow its currency to rise further against the dollar and push on other concerns such as increased market access for U.S. goods and better protection of intellectual property rights, the official said.

China's yuan has appreciated 16 percent in real terms against the dollar since June 2010. "More progress, however, is needed," the official said.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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European Space Agency scientists think that there was and could even still be life on Mars and want a new European mission to the red planet to take samples, a conference heard in Noordwijk, The Netherlands heard on Friday, February 25, 2005.

MOSCOW | Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:37pm EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Europe and Russia signed a deal on Thursday for a joint Mars mission which will bore beneath the Red Planet's surface for soil samples they hope will solve the mystery of whether there is life beyond Earth.

Europe's space agency had hoped to work with NASA on the two-spacecraft ExoMars mission but turned to the Russians after the U.S. agency pulled out due to budget shortfalls.

The announcement comes amid heightened excitement over the search for life on the planet in our solar system most like Earth after scientists said analysis from NASA's own mission rover, Curiosity, showed Mars had the right ingredients for life.

European scientists say the two-stage mission, with the two craft to be launched in 2016 and 2018, will pave the way for what NASA has described as the "Holy Grail" of Mars exploration: a separate mission to return dirt samples from the Red Planet.

"Curiosity learnt us a little bit, ExoMars will bring us a step further, but bringing back those samples to Earth you can do 10 to 100 times more analysis," Rolf de Groot, head of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Robotic Exploration Coordination Office, told Reuters.

"That is a goal of everybody who works on Mars exploration."

The Europe-Russia mission hopes to take scientists beyond NASA's finding that the surface of Earth's neighboring planet had the right mix of elements to sustain life, by drilling 2 meters (6 feet) below its radiation-hit surface for samples.

"NASA is also drilling, but two centimeters deep," de Groot said, referring to the ongoing Curiosity mission. "It's a completely different story."

"ExoMars, by drilling 2 meters into the ground, might hope to identify really the big molecules because that would be a direct indication of the presence of life or that life once existed on Mars."

He said the ESA's Mars rover would also be equipped with a much more advanced laboratory than Curiosity has, so would be able to carry out more detailed analysis.

RUSSIAN ROCKETS

Russian Space Agency Roskosmos will provide the rockets to launch the ExoMars - short for Exobiology on Mars - mission and will also design the descent module and surface platform.

Europe turned to Russia after NASA left the $1.3 billion project in February 2012, citing a budget crunch. The ESA and Roskosmos agreed to cooperate last April, but talks to work out the details dragged on for nearly a year.

"This event was a long time in the making and took a great deal of collaboration," Roskosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said after signing the deal with ESA Director Jean-Jacques Dordain in Paris.

Russia's involvement in the ambitious mission could boost the status of its once-pioneering space agency after a litany of costly and embarrassing failures.

The delays in agreeing the mission hinged on the extent of Russia's participation, according to Russian space experts who said Moscow had seemed to reach its goal of full partnership.

"The agreement implies that Russian scientists and engineers will become full-fledged participants in all the international scientific and technical groups," Roskosmos said in a statement.

What was to be Russia's first deep space mission in more than two decades - the Phobos-Grunt mission to scoop up soil samples from Mars - was among five botched launches that damaged Moscow's reputation as a reliable launch partner.

European governments have so far committed 850 million euros to the mission. The funding cap has been set at 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) but delays and changes to the scientific aspects of the project are expected to drive up the price tag.

Even though NASA pulled out, it will still provide radio communications equipment, an important organics experiment and engineering and mission support.

The United States also plans to follow up its Curiosity rover with an identical probe, to launch in 2020. It has not yet decided if it will cache samples for a future return to Earth.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2011 ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade. The long-term goal of the U.S. human space program is to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s.

(Additional reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Pravin Char)

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to U.S. embassy staff in Doha, March 6, 2013.

UNITED NATIONS | Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:27pm EDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry voiced support on Friday for an international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global arms trade, but restated Washington's "red line," affirming that it would not accept limits on U.S. domestic gun ownership.

The U.N. General Assembly voted in December to hold a final round of negotiations from March 18 to 28 on what could become the first international treaty to regulate international weapons transfers after a drafting conference in July 2012 collapsed because the United States and others wanted more time.

Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence and that a convention is needed to prevent the unregulated and illicit flow of weapons into conflict zones fueling wars and atrocities.

"The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achieve a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address the adverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace and stability," Kerry said in a statement.

"An effective treaty that recognizes that each nation must tailor and enforce its own national export and import control mechanisms can generate the participation of a broad majority of states, help stem the illicit flow of conventional arms across international borders and have important humanitarian benefits."

But he repeated that the United States - the world's No. 1 arms manufacturer - would not accept any treaty that imposed new limits on U.S. citizens' right to bear arms, a sensitive political issue in the United States.

"We will not support any treaty that would be inconsistent with U.S. law and the rights of American citizens under our Constitution, including the Second Amendment," he said.

"International conventional arms trade is, and will continue to be, a legitimate commercial activity," he said, adding that countries should work to prevent arms from reaching those who commit "the world's worst crimes, including those involving terrorism and serious human rights violations."

The point of the treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of any type of conventional weapon - light and heavy. It would also set binding requirements for nations to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure the munitions are not used in human rights abuses, do not violate embargoes and are not illegally diverted.

DISPUTE OVER AMMUNITION

The leading U.S. pro-gun group, the National Rifle Association, has vowed to fight the treaty, dismissing suggestions that a December U.S. school shooting massacre in Connecticut bolstered the case for such a pact.

If a treaty is approved, it will require ratification by countries' legislatures before it goes into effect. The NRA has warned the arms trade treaty would undermine the right to bear arms and says it will fight hard to prevent ratification if the Obama administration supports the treaty.

Backers of the treaty accuse the NRA of deceiving the U.S. public about the pact, which they say will have no impact on domestic gun ownership and would apply only to exports.

Some 150 countries will participate in the negotiations that begin on Monday at U.N. headquarters.

Human rights groups and other advocates of the treaty welcomed Kerry's statement.

"While the U.S. government reaffirms its red line on the Second Amendment, it did not issue any new red lines or demands on the international community," said Frank Jannuzi of Amnesty International. "We hope that this means that they will lead the next round (of negotiations) to consensus."

Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association, said Kerry's remarks were a "long overdue positive statement that makes it clear the administration is dedicated to pursuing a robust treaty."

He added that it was positive Kerry did not raise the issue of ammunition, something the United States had previously demanded be excluded from the treaty. Supporters of a tough treaty in Europe and elsewhere insist on including it.

Last month, U.S. National Security Council deputy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Washington would continue to oppose the inclusion of ammunition in the draft treaty.

"Ammunition is a fundamentally different commodity than conventional arms," Hayden said. "It is fungible, consumable, reloadable, and cannot be marked in any practical way that would permit it to be tracked or traced."

A U.S. official told Reuters on Friday that Washington's position against including ammunition had not changed.

(Editing by Todd Eastham and Peter Cooney)

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Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:26pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Radio frequency chip makers are set to gain as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc unveil ever more sophisticated smartphones and tablets to battle for the No. 1 spot in the global mobile devices market.

Investors and analysts say they like shares of RF Micro Devices Inc, Skyworks Solutions Inc and Avago Technologies Ltd - companies that make the chips that enable gadgets to send and receive data wirelessly.

Samsung unveiled its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, in New York on Thursday. The S4 can stop and start videos when someone looks at the screen, flip between songs at the wave of a hand and record sound to accompany pictures.

As manufacturers improve and add new features to phones, which are increasingly used to stream music, video and games, they are boosting the RF chip technology used in the devices.

"The RF content in handsets continues to go up," said Stewart Stecker, a portfolio manager at AlphaOne Capital. "That's good from an immediate to longer-term perspective for the entire RF supply chain."

The importance of RF chips will increase as network operators deploy high-speed wireless technology known as 4G LTE (long-term evolution), analysts said.

LTE requires a much higher number of frequency bands, which increases the number of RF chips in a phone.

The global LTE market is expected to almost double this year, surpassing the $10 billion mark, according to a March 13 report from telecom market research firm Infonetics Research.

"As you add LTE - that's a whole other frequency - you need more radio, more RF equipment," said Northland Securities analyst Tom Sepenzis.

A Verizon customer, for example, using a Samsung Galaxy S4 while traveling the world, would need to be able to use the LTE network in the United States and other countries, said Sepenzis.

"That requires more complex amplifiers that can handle multiple frequencies, requires better antenna solutions, switching capability to handle all the different frequencies. That obviously favors the RF component manufacturers," he said.

DIVERSIFYING ORDERS

Within the RF chip supplier group, analysts said those that have diversified their client base by supplying to Samsung, Apple, and other smartphone vendors such as China's ZTE Corp are best placed to take advantage of demand.

After chipping away for years at Apple's market share, Samsung emerged as the No. 1 seller of smartphones last year, undercutting its main competitor with cheaper handsets and a wide range of products.

Samsung sold 64.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with 43.5 million iPhones sold by Apple, data from market research company Gartner shows.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based RF Micro receives about a quarter of its revenue from Samsung, up from 10 percent a year ago, data compiled by analysts showed. Orders from Apple account for a fifth of sales, they said. RF Micro declined to comment.

Power amplifier maker Skyworks relies on Samsung and Apple for about a quarter each of its revenue, analysts said. Skyworks was not available for comment.

T. Rowe Price Global Technology fund portfolio manager Josh Spencer said he likes Avago Technologies Ltd.

"Avago has some very high-end filtering technology that you have to have in the smartphone antennas," Spencer said, adding that he was also considering buying RF Micro's stock.

Shares of RF Micro and Skyworks gained 15 percent and 21 percent respectively from the beginning of the year until February 21, when the upward trend was interrupted by Qualcomm Inc's unveiling of plans to make its own RF chip.

But both stocks recovered a day later after analysts said it was unlikely that Qualcomm would risk damaging integrated circuit partnerships to seek a profit opportunity of not more than $600 million.

Qualcomm has nearly half of the global market for "baseband" chips, which connect mobile phones to cellular networks, and therefore is also set to benefit from rapid LTE growth.

The S4 will use Samsung's application processor in some regions and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips, which have LTE features, in others.

"Qualcomm has such dominance in the baseband market that they have pricing leverage even against big customers," Spencer said.

(Editing by Robin Paxton)

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