Oilers take Russian F Yakupov with NHL's top pick

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? The Edmonton Oilers are getting tired of going first in the NHL draft and Nail Yakupov knows part of his job is to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Edmonton, picking No. 1 for the third straight year, grabbed the speedy Russian forward with the top pick on Friday. The Oilers believe the dazzling 18-year-old can join Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ? the No. 1 picks the previous two years ? in returning the once proud franchise to relevance.

Yakupov certainly thinks they can.

"I think it's going to be a great team," he said after becoming the first Russian taken No. 1 since Washington selected Alex Ovechkin in 2004.

Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov give the Oilers the kind of core to build around, but even as they celebrated Yakupov's rise, they caught a glimpse of how nothing lasts forever in the NHL.

Barely an hour after Yakupov donned his blue Edmonton sweater, the draft host Pittsburgh Penguins shook up the proceedings by sending center Jordan Staal to Carolina ? reuniting him with older brother Eric ? for center Brandon Sutter, defenseman Brian Dumoulin and a first-round pick they used to select defenseman Derrick Pouliot.

The 23-year-old Staal, along with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, provided the backbone that turned the Penguins into perennial Stanley Cup contenders. Now he's heading south after declining a contract extension.

"We wanted a deal (with Staal)," Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said. "But it was obvious in the last 24 hours that ... this was the right thing to do."

The Penguins weren't done, trading defenseman Zbynek Michalek to Phoenix for two players and a third-round pick just after the end of the first round.

The draft continues Saturday, with more fireworks expected.

Yakupov and Staal provided enough on Friday night.

The charismatic Yakupov models his game after former NHL star Pavel Bure, and in a way the youngster already has a leg up on the Russian Rocket. Bure scored 437 goals during his 12-year career, but he wasn't taken until the sixth round of the 1989 draft.

Yakupov, who spent the last two seasons with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, didn't have to wait nearly as long to hear his name called. The Oilers practically sprinted to the podium to grab a player they believe has plenty of potential.

Yakupov, who scored 31 goals in 42 games last season, is eager for the next step following weeks of speculation.

"It's not over, it's just starting," he said.

Born in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, Yakupov has consistently shot down speculation he is going to return to his homeland and play in the Kontinental Hockey League. He stressed repeatedly in the days leading up to the draft that the NHL is "the best league in the world."

While hardly the biggest player on the ice, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Yakupov has dazzling speed and nimble footwork. He plays with a relentlessness that made him the top player on most draft boards. Yakupov broke Sarnia's rookie scoring record ? previously held by Steven Stamkos ? in the 2010-11 season when he finished with 49 goals and 101 points.

Yakupov was also a rarity in a top 10 dominated by defense. Other than Sarnia teammate Alex Galchenyuk, who was taken third overall by Montreal, the other eight picks were defensemen.

The Columbus Blue Jackets continued to shore up their blue line by taking Ryan Murray of the Western Hockey League's Everett Silvertips with the second pick. The 6-foot, 198-pound Murray had nine goals and 22 assists in 46 games last season.

The 18-year-old became the youngest player since Paul Kariya in 1993 to play for Team Canada in the world championships this spring, and his ability to make an impact on both ends of the ice won over the rebuilding Blue Jackets.

"We are very happy to have Ryan Murray join our organization," general manager Scott Howson said. "He solidifies what we believe is a position of strength. His character and two-way play will be very valuable to our hockey club."

The prideful Canadiens, coming off a miserable season, hope Galchenyuk can one day provide a needed spark to a lethargic offense. The talented center missed all but two games of this past season after he tore a knee ligament.

Galchenyuk, born in the U.S. to Russian parents, is considered a gifted passer. He totaled 31 goals and 52 assists during the 2010-11 season. He already speaks two languages, and joked that he had better start picking up French.

"I think I have classes starting next week," he said with a laugh.

With the top high-flying forwards off the board, teams then went heavy on defense in a draft considered short on offensive star power.

The New York Islanders chose defenseman Griffin Reinhart with the fourth pick, starting a run of seven straight defensemen taken.

Among them was Derrick Pouliot, taken eighth overall. That Pouliot was taken so high wasn't remarkable, it was the team that got the pick to grab him that shook up the night.

The Hurricanes had the eighth selection but things changed quickly when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman walked onto the stage and announced a trade the hometown crowd "might want to hear."

Moments later, Pouliot pulled on a black Pittsburgh jersey.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised," Pouliot said.

Washington ended the run on defensemen, taking center Filip Forsberg with the No. 11 pick. The 17-year-old Forsberg was the youngest player on Team Sweden at the 2012 World Junior championships. Forsberg said he models his game after former NHL star Peter Forsberg, though the two aren't related.

The Buffalo Sabres took center Mikhail Grigorenko, who like Yakupov is from Russia, with the No. 12 selection. The massive 6-foot-3, 200-pound Grigorenko led rookies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in scoring last season, netting 40 goals and adding 45 assists for the Quebec Remparts.

The Staals weren't the only players who made the draft a family affair. The Boston Bruins chose goalie Malcolm Subban with the No. 24 pick. Subban's older brother, P.K., is a forward with the Canadians.

Phoenix drafted forward Henrik Samuelsson at No. 27. Samuelsson's father, Ulf, played 1,080 games in the NHL and won two Stanley Cup titles with Pittsburgh.

The elder Samuelsson received a warm ovation when his face flashed up on the Jumbotron. It likely won't be the same for former NHL player Stephane Matteau, whose son Stefan was taken by the New Jersey Devils with the 29th pick.

Stephane Matteau, playing for the New York Rangers, eliminated the Devils and rookie goalie Martin Brodeur with a double-overtime goal in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1994.

Now his son will try to help the franchise that is coming off a Stanley Cup finals loss to the Los Angeles Kings earlier this month.

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Islamists hail Morsy's Egypt victory, West cautious

LONDON (Reuters) - Islamists around the world hailed Mohamed Morsy's election as Egypt's first freely chosen president as a victory for their cause on Sunday while the West, Gulf states and Israel reacted with caution, wary of his political agenda.

Closely watched from Gaza to the Gulf, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate's win over former army general Ahmed Shafik was widely seen as an historic event with far-reaching consequences beyond Egypt's borders.

"The Egyptian nation did not elect a president just for Egypt, but for the Arab and Islamic nations too," said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza.

Viewing the victory through the prism of the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled leaders in Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen as well as Egypt, Islamists said they saw Morsy's win as proof their "revolution" was on the march.

"Mohamed Morsy a president for Egypt, thank God," said Mohammed al-Qahtani, a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), a group pushing for democracy in the Gulf state.

"This is a victory for the Arab revolutions," he said in a post on social networking site Twitter.

The United States, which provides vast military aid to Egypt, welcomed the result but made it clear it expected Morsy to ensure stability and not to veer to extremes.

"We believe that it is important for President-elect Morsy to take steps at this historic time to advance national unity by reaching out to all parties and constituencies in consultations about the formation of a new government," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement, calling on the new leader to ensure Egypt remains "a pillar of regional peace".

Iran, which prides itself on its own Islamist credentials, paid fulsome tribute to those it called "the martyrs of the (Egyptian) revolution", whom it said were responsible for ushering in "a splendid vision of democracy."

"The revolutionary movement of the Egyptian people... is in its final phases of a new era of developments in the Middle East and the Islamic Awakening," the foreign ministry said.

In Saudi Arabia, the world's number one oil producer, the government was silent. It has had poor relations with the Muslim Brotherhood, with many of the kingdom's officials accusing it of backing demands for internal political change.

However, analysts said Saudi Arabia would have to work with the new Egyptian president.

"I think (the Saudis) are going to be very practical about it. More and more they will discover common interests in the economy, in politics, on how to deal with Iran," said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent former newspaper editor with ties to the ruling family.

"BUILD BRIDGES"

In Britain, William Hague, the foreign minister, also gave a muted welcome to Morsy's victory.

"It will be important for the new government to stand for national unity and reconciliation, to build bridges across Egyptian society and to uphold human rights, including the rights of women and religious minorities, and the rule of law," Hague said in a statement.

France issued a similar statement. "It is key today that the transition, which started in February 2011, continues so that a democratic and pluralist political system establishes itself in Egypt, guaranteeing civil liberties and political freedom to all citizens," the office of President Francois Hollande said.

Israel voiced respect for Morsy's victory and the "democratic process", but called on the new administration in Cairo to maintain the peace accord maintained by Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak for 33 years.

Across the Gulf, reaction was cautious.

In the United Arab Emirates, the WAM news agency said the government respected "the choice of the Egyptian people in the context of its democratic march".

However, Dahi Khalfan, the Dubai police chief, was more skeptical. "An unfortunate choice," he said in a tweet. "The repercussions of this choice will not be light to poor ordinary people."

Bahrain's state news agency said King Hamad congratulated Morsy, praising "an atmosphere of freedom and democracy".

In Iraq, Ali al-Moussawi, an aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the government welcomed the win as "a major step in the right direction to boost democracy in Egypt".

A senior Western diplomat in Cairo made it clear the West was trying to put a brave face on Morsy's win and was keen to stress the nature of the election that brought him to power.

"Egypt has a civilian, democratically elected president for the first time in its history," the diplomat said.

"An imperfect presidency is way better than none at all," he said, urging the Brotherhood not to provoke the army, which has curbed presidential powers, into limiting them anymore.

STREET REACTION

Many Egyptians living abroad expressed relief, saying they felt their homeland finally had a chance to flourish.

In Riyadh, Abdulhamid Saraya, 60, an expatriate Egyptian engineer, said Morsy's win was a watershed.

"I am happy we are ending 30 years of injustice. (Ahmed) Shafik's loss is an end to a dark age that forced us to leave the country and live abroad most of our lives to escape injustice and poor living conditions," he told Reuters.

Muslims elsewhere said they were also pleased with the result, but some had advice for the new president.

In Algeria, Atef Kedadra, a senior journalist on the country's El Khabar daily newspaper told Reuters Morsy's victory carried tremendous symbolic importance but he would now have to show he was inclusive. "If he appoints only Islamists, he will lose because the Islamists are not used to ruling a country."

In Abu Dhabi, a 37-year-old government employee who gave his name as Seif, was upbeat. "I am sure Egypt has a bright future. The Brothers are forced to keep up with modernity, progress and openness. They don't want to destroy or harm their country."

Catherine al-Talli, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer, said events in Egypt were likely to encourage the opposition battling President Bashar al-Assad.

"It shows that the popular will brings about democratic change, and that when the people chose to rise against repression they can defeat it," she said.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Laya, a woman who goes to Cairo frequently, said she was concerned about how Morsy's victory would change the way women were treated.

"They will think it's now okay to approach girls and reprimand them for the way they dress," she told Reuters.

(Reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Angus McDowall and Marwa Rashad in Riyadh, Rania Al Gamal, Andrew Hammond and Joseph Logan in Dubai, Lamine Chikhi in Algiers, Ahmed Rasheed, Andrew Torchia, Isabel Coles, Muriel Boselli, Regan Doherty, and Raissa Kasolowsky; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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California voters narrowly reject new tobacco tax

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? A California initiative to increase the tax on tobacco to pay for cancer research has failed by less than a percentage point after remaining too close to call for more than two weeks.

With about 5 million ballots cast, opponents of Proposition 29 led by about 28,000 votes. The Associated Press analyzed areas where the roughly 105,000 uncounted votes remain and determined Friday there were not enough places where "yes" was winning to overcome the deficit.

As Prop 29 was failing 49.7 percent to 50.3 percent, proponents called it the narrowest defeat of a statewide ballot measure in California's history.

The plan to add $1 to the cigarette tax was headed by cyclist Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor. Tobacco companies, led by Philip Morris, meanwhile pushed the opposition campaign, pouring millions of dollars into an advertising blitz that whittled away support. Polls showed approval peaked around two-thirds in March but had fallen dramatically by the June 5 balloting.

Support for the initiative was strongest in the San Francisco Bay Area, while more conservative places like Southern California's Inland Empire opposed it.

If the measure had passed, Californians would still have paid only the 16th highest tobacco tax in the nation, at $1.87 per pack.

Proponents said they would be back.

"This came so close, I think this is worth another try," said Stan Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. "I think it would be horrible if Philip Morris and Reynolds get away with this."

He suggested that cigarette tax supporters might turn to the Legislature, though lawmakers routinely reject attempts to raise tobacco taxes.

The opposition campaign will wait until all the votes have been counted before declaring victory, spokeswoman Beth Miller said.

Opponents of the measure raised $47 million to fight it, a huge sum even by California standards. By comparison, Jerry Brown spent about $36 million in his successful 2010 bid to become governor of California. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his allies spent $47 million to beat back his recall challenge on June 5.

Armstrong and a coalition of anti-smoking groups raised about $12 million to bolster the measure, including $500,000 from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In a statement Friday, Lance Armstrong Foundation President Doug Ulman framed the issue as one of life and death.

"The defeat of this life-saving initiative is a genuine tragedy," he said. "Big Tobacco lied to voters to protect its profits and spent $50 million to ensure it can continue peddling its deadly products to California kids."

While raising the price of tobacco has been shown to reduce smoking rates, especially in young people, campaign ads sponsored by tobacco companies focused on pocketbook issues. The ads noted money would be raised in California through the tax but wouldn't necessarily stay in the state for research. The campaign also raised the specter of an out-of-control bureaucracy that would be set up to oversee collection and distribution of the money.

The strategy didn't just stir doubt in the minds of voters.

Several major newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, opposed the measure while expressing general support for such sin taxes and reluctance to side with tobacco companies. They argued that the revenue should go directly to the state, which now faces a $15.2 billion deficit.

The result was reminiscent a 2006 California cigarette tax measure that led by wide margins in early polling until tobacco companies spent $66 million to defeat it with ads featuring physicians.

Prop 29 was failing by a remarkably slim margin. Previously, the closest vote in the past two decades was on school bond measure 1B in 1994, which failed 49.6 percent to 50.4, according to Secretary of State spokeswoman Shannan Velayas. The second closest was another tobacco tax measure, which passed 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent in 1998.

California was once at the forefront of smoking restrictions and taxes, but the famously health-conscious state has not raised tobacco taxes since 1998. If the new tax had passed, California would still have had only the 16th highest tax rate in the nation.

Some smoking foes said they are weighing the idea of tackling the issue in the state Legislature.

The overwhelming majority of recent tobacco taxes across the nation have been approved in statehouses, not at the polls. But in California, where new taxes require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, lawmakers have defeated more than 30 attempts to raise tobacco taxes in the last 30 years.

Missouri voters are expected to weigh in on a tobacco tax increase in November and similar taxes are working their way through the legislative process in the Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Illinois.

Associated Press

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Key European leaders meet to ease debt crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands behind a window with a reflection of the European flag as she waits for the President of Peru Ollanta Humala at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 12, 2012. Merkel will hold a speech with the title "Germany in Europe - Input for European Cohesion" at an economic council of her ruling Christian Democratic Party Tuesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands behind a window with a reflection of the European flag as she waits for the President of Peru Ollanta Humala at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 12, 2012. Merkel will hold a speech with the title "Germany in Europe - Input for European Cohesion" at an economic council of her ruling Christian Democratic Party Tuesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

ROME (AP) ? The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain will gather in Rome to seek agreement on ways to ease the widening debt crisis in their currency union.

Any proposals agreed at Friday's summit will be brought to a wider gathering of EU leaders on June 28 and 29.

Among the items on the agenda are a proposal by Italian Premier Mario Monti to use a bailout fund to buy sovereign debt to bring down interest rates for countries like Spain and Italy and a possible tax on financial transactions.

The meeting caps an intense week, which included the downgrade by Moody's of 15 of the world's largest banks. Spain and Italy have seen their government borrowing costs rise amid market worries about their ability to handle their debt.

Associated Press

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Rose Costa: Reportedly Knocked Up by James Marsden!

James Marsden is set to be a father for the third time.

According to an E! News source, a woman the actor "dated after he separated from his wife has told him she is four months pregnant" and is "excited to be a mom."

The New York Post, meanwhile, identities this woman as a 24-year old Brazilian model named Rose Costa and reports that she only slept with the actor one time. But that's all it takes, kids!

Marsden, who recurred throughout 30 Rock Season 6 as a steady boyfriend of Tina Fey's Liz Lemon, has two children with ex-wife Lisa, from whom he split in October.

No word yet from his camp, but insiders say Marsen and Costa are not actively in a relationship.

[Photo: WENN.com]

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