Parise leads way, Wild push Avalanche to Game 7

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild gave Zach Parise all that money for games like this. Parise signed that megadeal two years ago for games even bigger than this.

They forced at least one more with a furious finish.

Parise scored early and late on tipped shots, and the Wild tacked on two empty-net goals for a 5-2 victory against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night that sent the first-round playoff series to a decisive Game 7."It's one of those nights where you just want to keep touching it and keep having the puck," said Parise, who added two assists for a career-playoff-high four points.

The teams will meet in Denver on Wednesday night, with the winner taking on the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference semifinals.

"We don't have any time to hang our heads here and feel sorry for ourselves," Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said. "We're just going to get right back on the horse here and get ready for Game 7."

Ah, Game 7. An already-tight series will produce one final dramatic performance.

"We didn't sign here to win a first-round game. We look at the big picture," said Parise, who joined close friend Ryan Suter in signing 13-year, $98 million contracts with the Wild two seasons ago.

The Wild were in trouble at the second intermission after what Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said might have been his team's best period of the whole series.

Parise scored just 49 seconds into the game on a power play and Mikael Granlund made it 2-0 later in the first period, but a costly turnover by Suter at the end of a failed 5-on-3 situation led to a short-handed goal for the Avalanche when Paul Stastny scored for the fourth time in the series.

Nick Holden got the tying goal in the second period to stop the power-play skid for the Avalanche, who had been denied by a resurgent Wild penalty-kill unit in 19 of 20 previous opportunities in the series. The Wild stumbled through to the second intermission, lacking the edge they had here throughout Games 3 and 4 and in the first period of this Game 6, and the atmosphere in the building became anxious, with one more goal by the Avalanche holding the power to end the home team's season.

So Wild coach Mike Yeo gave his team a spark by reuniting Parise on the first line with center Mikko Koivu, who had two assists.

"I think we started to get a little bit of fear in our game. Not necessarily afraid of them, just afraid maybe of what we were losing," Yeo said, adding: "Both of those guys were leading the charge up front and for me, their determination, their kind of get-after-it attitude, I wanted those guys going out together."

Parked in the crease with the season on the line, Parise took a shove in the back from goalie Semyon Varlamov and then outmuscled defenseman Erik Johnson for position on Koivu's shot from behind the circle that he knocked in with his stick with 6:29 left in the game.

Roy pulled Varlamov with 2:44 remaining, and this time the daring move backfired after it led to tying goals for the Avalanche in Games 1 and 5. Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella found the back of the net for the Wild, and the celebration was on.

Matt Duchene returned to the Avalanche lineup and notched an assist in extensive time on the power play, after missing the last month due to a left knee injury. The Avalanche's leader with 70 points during the regular season, Duchene wasn't cleared for action until minutes before faceoff.

"He was flying out there. He was playing well. He was playing hard," Roy said.

He wasn't the only one. Ryan O'Reilly had two assists, and the Avalanche refused to express any frustration afterward, even though they'll be in an elimination situation for the first time in the series.

"If that's what it's going to need to be, then that's what it's going to need to be," Avalanche right wing P.A. Parenteau

 said. "It's been a battle back and forth with the Wild. We're lucky we have the home ice advantage, but we're going to have to be ready."

John Kerry apologises for Israel 'apartheid' remarks

The US secretary of state, John Kerry

, has apologised for warning thatIsrael risked becoming an "apartheid state" if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, following a barrage of criticism in America.

In a statement, Kerry hit back at what he described as "partisan political" attacks against him, while stating that in retrospect he would have chosen a different word.

He said that apartheid was "a word best left out of the debate [in the US]" despite the fact that there have been similar warnings from senior Israeli politicians.

Kerry insisted his remarks were only an expression of his firm belief that a two-state solution was the only way to end the long-running conflict.

Kerry's reported comments, and his retraction, come at a sensitive time for the peace process, suspended by Israel last week after the agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas to reconcile and try to form a unity government.

The US state department statement was released just hours before the deadline set nine months ago for the conclusion of this phase of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have come to an end without progress, and amid predictions that Kerry would concentrate on other international issues.

Without denying he used the word "apartheid", the statement insisted on Kerry's history of support for Israel over the past 30 years.

"I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don't believe," Kerry said after members of Congress and pro-Israel groups criticised him, with some demanding his resignation or at least an apology.

"First, Israel is a vibrant democracy and I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one," he said.

"Second, I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two-state solution," Kerry said.

The Daily Beast reported on Sunday that Kerry had made the remarks referring to the risk of Israel becoming an "apartheid state" at the closed door meeting on Friday.

According to reports, his remarks were apparently recorded after a reporter, who was not invited to the event and so not bound by the meeting's non-attribution agreement, managed to get in.

Kerry has invested significant time and energy in bringing the two sides to the negotiating table with the goal of reaching a deal, but has blamed both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a lack of progress.

That deadline expires on Tuesday with the parties having failed to reach an accord, a less ambitious framework deal or even an agreement to extend the negotiations.

"There is unlikely to be any diplomatic movement for months," said one Israeli official. "Perhaps until September at the earliest. He added it would be reasonable to expect both sides to concentrate on "minimising damage".

While Israeli political leaders have not commented publicly about Kerry's remarks, the secretary of state has faced fierce criticism in the US.

The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor, said Kerry should apologise, while the American Israel Public Affairs Committee described his use of the term as offensive. Another pro-Israel lobby called for Kerry to resign, a call echoed by Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas in a speech on the Senate floor.

Democratic senator Barbara Boxer was also critical of Kerry,, saying in a tweet: "Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and any linkage between Israel and apartheid is nonsensical and ridiculous."

Emma Stone, Jimmy Fallon face off in epic lip-synch battle on ‘The Tonight Show’

Emma Stone, you do win.

The 25-year-old actress stopped by Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" Monday and the two went head to head in an epic lip-synch battle.

While Fallon certainly stepped it up, he didn't quite hold a candle to the "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" starlet.

The funnyman host, 39, kicked off the competition by performing Iggy Azalea's "Fancy." Stone followed with her rendition of "Hook" by the Blues Traveler.

"I can't even talk to you right now," Fallon said to Stone after she finished.Emma Stone and Jimmy Fallon have engage in an epic lip-synch battle during Monday's 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.' "I forgot all about that song. So good. I really gotta pick it up now. I've gotta up my game."       

Fallon's second song was "Mr. Roboto," in which he hilariously paired with robot dance moves.

Stone's final jam was DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win" and the red-headed actress nailed every last word in her theatrical performance.

Fallon had no choice but to crown her the winner.

"That was the best one that has ever been done on the show," he said. "Emma Stone, the winner right now. Clear, clear, clear winner."

Prior to their face-off, Stone opened up to Fallon in their sit-down about her favorite things to look up on the Web.

"Lately I'm checking out some young mom blogs. Here's how it happened. There are people blogging about pretty much everything, but they're women in my age range that are mothers. I can't even get my life together enough to put furniture in an apartment," she joked.

"I just Pinterest everything, Pinterest is basically like a mood board online, and you can look on different sections and you can build your dream life, basically. You're like, 'Oh, these clothes! I would wear all these clothes if I could. This is what my house would look like.' They're just pictures that you would pin as if you were pinning them to a corkboard, but you're pinning them to an internet website ... and your life is sad because it doesn't look like that.""My Pinterest is secret because I would be humiliated if anyone would see how many inspirational quotes I have," she continued.

"I've got a lot of, like, 'Just pick yourself up by the bootstraps.'"

Stone stars in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" alongside real-life love Andrew Garfield, which hits theaters Friday.

Massive Firefox update hits refresh on browsing

The Firefox overhaul applies the lessons of mobile design to Mozilla's desktop browser to unify its look across devices, a change more than two years in the making.Mozilla on Tuesday released the first major interface refresh for Firefox since relaunching the browser in 2011, in a bid to keep the browser competitive.

The massive overhaul -- chockablock with new menus and new features -- comes at a challenging time for the company's leaders. Mozilla was riven with internal strife several weeks ago when company co-founder and longtime CTO Brendan Eich was elevated to chief executive and then resigned 11 days later, following a public outcry over his financial support for an anti-gay marriage law in California.

Among the more than 1,300 changes, the sweeping improvements in Firefox 29 for desktops introduce a new Firefox Account to simplify the cross-browser Sync feature, a customizable graphical menu, and rounded tabs that emphasize the tab you're in over the others.

"People are using the Web differently than they used to," said Johnathan Nightingale, Mozilla's vice president of Firefox, "and we need to give them a richer set of tools for customizing the way that they experience the Web."

The new interface

The visual changes take some cues from adjustments that Google has made to Chrome and Microsoft has made to Internet Explorer, such as the triple-line menu icon that now lives on the righthand side of the browser. Gone from Windows and Linux is the orange Firefox menu button.Two smaller changes arrived early. People who use Firefox have already been exposed to the Download Manager button on the add-on bar, and the browser navigation Forward button disappears unless there's a page to move forward to.

But other improvements are more drastic. The menu button has jumped completely from the left to the right side of the browser, and introduces a touch-friendly, icon-based, customizable menu to Firefox fans.

"Most desktops are not touch enabled, but they're moving that way. You could say it's picking up design ideas from mobile, or you could just say that it's well designed," Nightingale said.

Nightingale doesn't expect everybody to like the new look. His solution? To call up one of the browser's best-loved features: customization.

"We've always been proud of our add-on experience, but the built-in customization tools were in need of love," he said. You can now drag-and-drop to customize the menu, just as you can with other browser interface elements such as the location bar or search box.

Another important interface change has been to ensure that tabs are readable. Tabs, Nightingale said, are a "critical detail."

"Talking about tabs is talking about how people do more than one thing at the same time on the Internet," he said.Firefox has developed a reputation as a browser than can smoothly handle dozens of tabs, and so Nightingale said it was important for Mozilla to make sure that tabs remained legible even as more of them got crammed onto the tab bar.

"We decided not to shrink and shrink the tabs, which would theoretically allow you to have more of them on the screen. It makes more sense to have nice smooth animation and keep some content there to give your eye something to look for," he said.

The browser relies on your mouse scroll wheel or navigation arrows at either end of the tab bar for you to access overflow tabs.

Rethinking Sync

The new Firefox Sync steps back from the previous way users were asked to set up the feature, which allows you to synchronize tabs, bookmarks, add-ons, preferences, passwords, and browsing history across devices and operating systems. The old Sync required people to input a complicated, randomly-generated password, and it was buried in the settings menus.

The new model is based on the more familiar user-chosen username and password, and receives its own icon and account identifier in the new menu. Mozilla began making Firefox Accounts available to the public several months ago through its developer's build, Firefox Aurora. It's expected to support multifactor authentication, but doesn't at the time of launch.

"Five to 10 percent of the new [Firefox] Accounts on [Firefox] Beta are originating on Android," Nightingale said. Mozilla believes that the new Sync sign-up is helping the Android version of the browser finally take off, a complementary but important goal of the redesign.

"There are hopeful signals there that people are responding to the new sync," he said.

Mobile and the future

While people flocked to desktop Firefox a decade ago, driven by a desire for a faster, more secure, and more personable alternative to Internet Explorer, the Android Firefox hasn't met with the same response.According to NetMarketShare

, desktop Firefox's market usage percentage has slowly drifted south over the past year, from more than 20 percent in May 2013 to 17.26 percent in March 2014. That's not necessarily terrible news, as the number of the people using the Internet continues to increase.

But on Android, Firefox can't even pick up 0.01 percent of the users, says NetMarketShare.

Still, Nightingale insists that Firefox is trending towards greater adoption on Android.

"We've been seeing a lot of response to [Firefox for] Android," he said, noting that the browser has passed 50 million downloads, with 20 million active users and a 4.5 star rating in Google Play.

"The thing we need to do is make stronger ties between desktop and mobile," he said, but also pointed to Mozilla's successes in other browser areas.

3D games, he noted, are running at close to native code speed in the browser thanks to Mozilla technology such as Emscripten and ASM.js, and the long-awaited Unreal Engine for game-building running directly in Firefox.

It's the kind of real-world benchmark that users can go out and test for themselves, something that the microbenchmarks calculating the milliseconds of JavaScript rendering times can't easily do.

Release notes for Firefox 29 for desktops andFirefox 29 for Android are available.

Firefox 29 positions Mozilla's pieces on the board for a strong future. But the question remains: Will erstwhile fans will return to play the game?

Beyonce's 'Standing On The Sun' Premieres Online In Time To Inspire Summer Vacation Plans

Almost one year after it scored a sunny H&M commercial, Beyonce's "Standing on the Sun" has hit the Internet in full. The breezy song was among a handful of rumored tracks for what was then her unknown fifth album. It didn't make the"Beyoncé" cut, but the anthem did find its way onto the setlist at the singer's May 2013 concert in Antwerp, Belgium. Sia and Greg Kurstin wrote "Standing on the Sun," which you can listen to below while preparing for (or fantasizing about) your beachside getaway.

Profiles of Those Killed by Arkansas Tornado

A fierce tornado that swept through Arkansas killed more than a dozen people, including two sisters and their father, part of a large family that had gathered for a "normal" evening before the storm drove them to seek shelter under a staircase.

"You could just see the wind was just crazy," Emily Tittle, 17, said Monday as she searched for keepsakes in the ruins of her family's rural home west of Little Rock.

Tittle said she, her eight siblings and her parents scurried for safety under the stairs in the two-story house, but only half of them made it before the walls were obliterated by the twister. Her father, Rob Tittle, and two sisters, Tori, 20, and Rebekah, 14, were killed. All six of her other siblings were taken to hospitals, three of whom have since been released.

She said her mother is alive, but that she hasn't heard from her since the night before.

———

Daniel Wassom was huddled in a hallway of a Vilonia home during the storm with his wife, Suzanne, and daughters Lorelei, 5, and Sydney, 7, neighbors and a relative said. Suzanne Wassom even posted on Facebook about it. At the height of the tornado, a large piece of lumber crashed toward the family. Dan Wassom, 31, who served in the Air Force, shielded Lorelei, taking the brunt of the blow to his neck, said Carol Arnett, Dan Wassom's grandmother.

It was a fatal blow. Lorelei suffered a shoulder injury and was hospitalized. Suzanne Wassom was hospitalized with a concussion, her aunt, Sherry Madden, said.

"Dan always put his family first," Arnett said, wiping away tears. "They're just good people. They love God and their children."

———

Daniel and April Smith moved to Vilonia last fall, focusing on the shiny new intermediate school that their two boys could one day attend. On Sunday, their sons, third-grader Cameron Smith and first-grader Tyler Smith, were killed when the tornado destroyed the family's home.

Daniel and April Smith were seriously injured.

"They found a great house at a reasonable price, and they were looking for schools," Eric Hancock, a longtime family friend who often baby-sat the boys. "They had just built that new one. It just seemed right."

Tyler was 7. Hancock said Cameron was 9, though the Faulkner County coroner listed the boy's age as 8.

Hancock said both boys loved baseball, fishing and God.

Cameron also enjoyed hunting, getting his first crack during deer season last year, Hancock said. Cameron fired at two but missed, his nerves getting the best of him.

Tyler, Hancock said, "was a pistol, with more energy than any 16 people I know."

"He was just a light in the world," he said.

Don Mallory was on the phone with his younger brother, 57-year-old David Mallory, when the storm struck Sunday night.

Don Mallory said he told his brother to get a flashlight and take cover.

"He said, 'All right.' That's the last I heard from him," Don Mallory told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, adding that a neighbor discovered his brother's body after the storm destroyed the house in Vilonia.

David Mallory's prized possession was his brown-and-white 1955 Chevrolet that he only drove on Thursdays, his brother said. The car, which was parked in David Mallory's garage on Sunday night, was discovered Monday more than 100 yards away, mangled and twisted around a tree.

Beyonce & Jay Z Announce On The Run Tour, Dates

Beyonce and Jay Z will spend the summer touring North America. The pair's On The Run Tour begins on June 25 in Miami and ends on Aug. 5 in San Francisco. All told the couple will play 16 shows during the six-week trek, with stops in Atlanta, Philadelphia, East Rutherford, New Jersey, Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Monday's official announcement comes two weeks after it was first rumored that Beyonce and Jay Z would tour together. According to those first reports, the tour was supposed to be called the Mr. and Mrs. Carter Tour. Instead, the concerts will file under the "On The Run" moniker, a reference to the pair's collaboration on Jay Z's most recent album, "Magna Carta ... Holy Grail." Check out the tour's artwork and schedule below; ticketing details can be found at Beyonce's website.

Paul Simon and wife Edie Brickell arrested on disorderly conduct charges Simon, 72, and Brickell, 48, appeared in court on Monday and blamed arrest for disorderly conduct on 'rare' argument

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon and his wife were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, police said on Monday.

Simon, 72, and musician Edie Brickell, 48, were arrested at their home in New Canaan, Connecticut, on Saturday. The pair appeared in court in Monday, where Simon told the judge that their arrest was due to a rare argument.

The couple, who married in 1992 and have three children together, held hands during their appearance at Norwalk superior court, the Associated Press reported. The pair told the judge they saw no need for a protective order and did not feel threatened by each other, according to the AP. The judge ordered the couple to return to court 16 May.

Connecticut police said in a statement that officers responded at around 8:20pm on Saturday to investigate a "family dispute".

At a news conference earlier on Monday, police chief Leon Krolikowski said they were each given a misdemeanor summons and one of them agreed to leave and go to another location. "There was aggressiveness on both sides," , Krolikowski said. "They're both victims and they have children involved and we're trying to be very cautious of that."

Simon, a 12-time Grammy winner whose monumental career spans five decades, rose to fame as one-half of the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel.

In 1982, Simon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1990, Simon & Garfunkel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and just over a decade later, in 2001, Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. In 2003 he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years and Graceland have all earned album of the year awards.

Brickell was the lead singer of the semi-eponymous folk-rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. The group's debut single, What I Am, was a hit in 1988 and peaked at no 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Earlier this year, Brickell and actor Steve Martin won a Grammy for best American roots song, Love Has Come For You. She is due to tour the US and Canada with Matin's group, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, beginning in May.

Brickell is Simon's third wife. He has a son with his first wife, Peggy Harper, whom he married in 1969 and divorced six years later. He was briefly married to actress Carrie Fischer whom he divorced after one year of marriage in 1984. The pair, however, continued their stormy relationship and dated on and off for nearly a decade after their divorce.

Ariana Grande Talks 'Problem' Single & Second Album, Due Out August/September

The "Yours Truly" follow-up will feature a "fantastic and super-experimental" song with Zedd, along with collaborations with Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin and Rodney Jerkins.

When Ariana Grande's first album, "Yours Truly," started at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last September, the 20-year-old singer became just the 15th female solo artist to guide their first full-length to a No. 1 debut on the albums chart. Grande tells Billboard that she celebrated that accomplishment for approximately one hour after it happened, and then began thinking about her next album.

"I'm a workaholic, and a perfectionist," says Grande, who released "Problem," the first single from her as-yet-untitled second album, on Sunday night (Apr. 27) after performing the Iggy Azalea-assisted track for the first time at the Radio Disney Music Awards. "It was a very exciting thing for me to all of a sudden have this new mission, to make something as special as 'Yours Truly,' and to put my time and effort into something new and something I want to make just as good, if not better."Grande believes that she hit that mark with her sophomore effort, due out in August or September: "I never thought I'd be able to say this, but I love this [album] five times as much as I love 'Yours Truly.' They're different, but I love this one so much more."

Co-written by Max Martin and Savan Kotecha, "Problem" employs a saxophone sample that immediately recalls recent hits like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" and Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," but the boisterous track also unchains Grande's incredible voice, which spews out insecurities over an ex-flame with an anxious rapidity before hitting home on the high notes. Grande says that she originally didn't want "Problem" to appear on her sophomore album, and after playing the song in a meeting with her label and management, she realized that she had another hit on her hands.

"'Problem' truly represents the feeling of being absolutely terrified to re-approach a relationship that's gone sour -- but you want to more than anything," says Grande. The singer also cryptically confirms that the song is based on her still-evolving relationship with an ex: "In the song, it ends on a sappy, negative note, but in [real] life, we're hoping it's going to end on a positive one. I feel like it's all very honest and human."

Gimme Five: Ariana Grande's Most Inspirational Female Singers

After working with hip-hop artists like Mac Miller and Big Sean (who provides those whispered vocals on "Problem") on "Yours Truly," Grande decided to strengthen "Problem" with the help of Azalea, whom she met while attending Katy Perry's MTV EMAs after-party last October. "I was a fan of hers from when she put 'Work' out," says Grande of Azalea's 2013 single. "I thought she was so sensible and down-to-earth and talented."

While "Yours Truly" primarily showcased Grande's powerful voice through new-school R&B songs, the singer says that her follow-up will be more expansive, with a wider list of collaborators. Electronic superstar Zedd worked on a track, which Grande says is "fantastic and super-experimental for me. I never thought I'd do an EDM song, but that was an eye-opening experience, and now all I want to do is dance."

Martin and Kotecha oversaw "a lot" of the album, while Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Key Wayne and Thomas Brown all contributed to the full-length. Grande says of the legendary producer Rodney Jerkins, "We've done a song together that I think is my favorite song that I've ever done."

Jennifer Lopez Previews New Album in Malibu: First Listen

When "Yours Truly's" first single, "The Way," started in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 chart upon its release last year, the song's debut was seen as a surprise success for a Nickelodeon star who was relatively unknown to mainstream music fans at the time. One year later, pop fans were prepared for "Problem" -- daily hashtags like #10DaysUntilProblem were trending worldwide on Twitter for the better part of two weeks prior to the song's release.

"It warms my heart," says Grande, who reads her Twitter mentions alongside her mother, crying and laughing at fans' expressions of enthusiasm. "I feel like all the hard work has paid off, and the reactions make me feel like I'm doing my job right."

Tori Spelling Hospitalized Amid Marriage Woes

Tori Spelling was hospitalized recently amid ongoing marital issues with husband Dean McDermott.

E! News reports Spelling was hospitalizedfor at least six days for undisclosed reasons. She was photographed entering an SUV wearing a pink hospital band on her wrist on Saturday, April 26, around 3 p.m. McDermott was assisting her into the vehicle.

"He would arrive by 10am and didn't leave until 8 most nights. He seemed very stressed out and worried," a source told E! of how McDermott supported his reality star wife. ''He would bring food and often only left Tori to go outside to catch some air or make a phone call.''

In January, reports surfaced claiming McDermott cheated on Spelling with a 28-year-old woman named Emily Goodhand while in Canada promoting his show, "Chopped Canada." He later checked into rehab "to address some health and personal issues."

Their tumultuous marriage unravels on the new Lifetime reality series, "True Tori."Spelling has been writing about it on her blog, ediTORIal, thanking those who have been sending her messages of support.

Some recent reports have suggested Spelling and McDermott faked the cheating scandal to land themselves another reality show.

UPDATE: 4:50 p.m. -- Spelling spent a little more than a week at a Los Angeles hospital, GossipCop reports. She was being treated for a "severe migraine"

 and is now doing okay.

Villarreal give life ban to rogue fan who threw banana at Dani Alves

Barcelona's Dani Alves reverted to humor when dealing with racist abuse but it has proved no laughing matter for the Villarreal fan who threw a banana at him during Sunday's match after being handed a life ban by the La Liga club.

Villarreal issued a statement Monday saying it "deeply regrets" the incident. "The club has identified the person responsible and has decided to withdraw his membership card and prohibit access to the El Madrigal Stadium for life," it added.

Brazilian international Alves was taking a corner during Barca's 3-2 win when the banana landed at his feet. Maintaining his composure, Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and took a bite and got on with the game.

"Dani Alves owned him," tweeted the Brazilian's teammate Neymar. "Take That bunch of Racists. We are all Monkeys So What."

Former England international Gary Lineker , who played for Barcelona, also applauded Alves' quick thinking. "Utterly brilliant reaction from Alves," tweeted Lineker. "Treat the racist berk with complete disdain."After the match, the 30-year-old Alves posted a clip of the incident on instagram joking his father had always told him to eat bananas to prevent cramp.

It's not the first time the Barcelona defender has been targeted -- in January 2013 Alves claimed he was abused during Barca's Copa del Rey semifinal match against archrivals Real Madrid."We have suffered this in Spain for some time," he told reporters. "You have to take it with a dose of humor."

"We aren't going to change things easily. If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective."

As well as banning the culprit, Villarreal also said they would act swiftly again if a similar incident occurred in the future.

"Villarreal football club again states its firm stance in favor of respect, equality and good sportsmanship and a clean game both on the playing field and off it, and states its total rejection of any act that goes against those principles, such as violence, discrimination, racism or xenophobia."

Sunday's match was Barca's first game since the death of former coach Tito Vilanova on Friday.

Barca went 2-0 down against seventh-placed Villarreal before launching a stirring fightback in the final half hour.A Gabriel Paulista own-goal on 65 minutes gave Tata Martino's team hope before a second own goal, this time from Mateo Mussachio, levelled the match with 12 minutes remaining.

Argentina star Lionel Messi won the match for Barca in the 83rd minute to leave the Catalan club four points behind La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid with three matches left to play.

The two teams meet on the final day of the season.

Read: Advantage Atletico after Valencia win

During 2013 European football was hit by several incidents of racism, notably when Kevin Prince-Boateng walked off the pitch during a friendly match between his then club AC Milan and a lower-league Italian side.

That incident prompted FIFA to introduce tougher sanctions for racist abuse and the president of the world governing body, Sepp Blatter, was quick to condemn the treatment accorded to Alves.

He tweeted: "What @DaniAlvesD2 tolerated last night is an outrage. We must fight all forms of discrimination united. Will be zero tolerance at WorldCup."Under the sanctions, punishments for first offenses bring a warning, fine or clubs being forced to play games in empty stadiums. A second offense, or one deemed "serious," could result in demotion, a deduction of points or expulsion from a tournament.

Liverpool's Luis Suarez was banned for eight matches in December 2011 after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

A second lengthy ban was imposed on the Uruguayan towards the end of the 2012-13 season after Suarez bit Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, meaning he missed the first five games of the current Premier League season.But since his return, Suarez has been sensational. He has scored 30 league goals to spearhead Liverpool's title challenge and on Sunday his contribution was recognized after he was named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year.

It was a bittersweet day for Suarez with the award coming hours after Liverpool's 2-0 defeat against Chelsea.

The defeat ended Liverpool's 11-match winning run and handed the initiative to Manchester City in the race for the championship.

Hall of Fame basketball coach Jack Ramsay dies at 89

MIAMI (AP) — Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship before he became one of the NBA's most respected broadcasters, has died following a long battle with cancer. He was 89.

His family announced his death, saying he "led the greatest life that one could lead."

Ramsay coached in the NBA for parts of 21 seasons before embarking on a second career as an NBA analyst for ESPN. He was diagnosed with melanoma in 2004 and later battled growths and tumors that spread to his legs, lungs and brain, as well as prostate cancer and most recently a marrow syndrome.

His affinity for fitness never wavered, though. Ramsay, who competed in at least 20 triathlons during his life, worked out regularly into his 80s, even as he battled the various forms of cancer. He often spoke of his love of swimming in the Gulf of Mexico near his home in Naples, Fla., or jogging in a pool or from wall to wall in his hotel room when on NBA assignments.

"He's probably forgotten more about the game than I know," Miami Heat coach and president Pat Riley once said of Ramsay, whom he counted as a close friend.

Ramsay also spent several years late in life caring for his wife, Jean, who was diagnosed in 2001 with Alzheimer's disease. She died in 2010.

"He was that rarest of men with a unique style that was inspirational and motivational about basketball and life itself," said Paul Allen, who owns the Trail Blazers.

Ramsay enjoyed enormous popularity within the league. To commemorate his 89th birthday this year, Portland coach Terry Stotts wore a loud checkered jacket and open-collared shirt for a Blazers' game — a nod to how Ramsay dressed when he coached the club.

"Jack's life is a beacon which guides us all," Bill Walton, who was on Ramsay's 1977 title team in Portland, told USA Today in 2007. "He is our moral compass, our spiritual inspiration. He represents the conquest of substance over hype. He is a true saint of circumstance."

John T. Ramsay was born Feb. 21, 1925, in Philadelphia and enrolled at Saint Joseph's in 1942, eventually becoming captain of the basketball team there for his senior season. He earned a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1949, explaining the "Dr. Jack" moniker by which most players and fans knew him.

Ramsay's biggest impact on Hawk Hill would be when he started coaching his alma mater in 1955. He was wildly successful there, going 234-72 and taking the Hawks to the NCAA tournament seven times and the Final Four in 1961.

"Great man," Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson, who played at Saint Joseph's, wrote on Twitter. "The Greatest Hawk ever. He will be missed but never Forgotten."

To Ramsay, the most significant part of the Saint Joseph's years was this: "I met my wife there," he said.

He was a founding father of sorts for the growth of the Big 5, the annual Philadelphia basketball series involving Saint Joseph's, La Salle, Penn, Villanova and Temple.

"I felt a lot of personal pride and interest in the outcome of those games," Ramsay told The Associated Press in 2004. "There wasn't as much interest in conference play. There wasn't the impact of a national championship or conference championships like there is today. The Big 5 was clearly the biggest thing any of those schools were involved in at that point."Ramsay became coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, joined the Buffalo Braves in 1972 and brought his craft to Portland in 1976. With a team featuring Walton and Maurice Lucas, he delivered an NBA championship in his first season, beating the 76ers in six games in the final series.

"For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one that I will cherish forever," Ramsay said in a 1997 interview.

Indeed, that was his lone NBA title. Walton got hurt the next year, crippling Portland's chances of getting back to championship form during that era. Ramsay coached the Blazers for nine more seasons without another trip to the finals. He spent the final three years of his NBA coaching career in Indiana, resigning from the Pacers in 1988 after the team started 0-7.

Ramsay was 864-783 in his NBA career and in 1996 was honored as one of the league's top 10 all-time coaches.

When he left the Pacers, Ramsay carefully did not use the word "retire," and began working as a television analyst on 76ers games. Eventually, he worked on Heat television broadcasts for eight seasons before moving full time to ESPN for radio and TV commentating before the 2000-01 season.

"So grateful that his path crossed ours," his former Heat broadcast partner Eric Reid wrote on Twitter early Monday. "Hall of Fame coach and man."

Ramsay's funeral is Thursday.

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