Senators urge Obama to release more water into Mississippi River

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sixteen U.S. senators have appealed to President Barack Obama to divert more water to the Mississippi River to prevent barge traffic from shutting down due to low water on the country's inland waterway, a crucial route for goods bound for export.

Low water is a looming disaster, said the senators in a letter to Obama that was released on Friday.

The senators, from states along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, asked for emergency action to release more water from Missouri River reservoirs to feed the drought-sapped Mississippi River.

Water levels are forecast to reach near-historic lows by mid-December, and shippers say low water will make it impossible to move cargo. Grain exporters have already slashed by up to 50 percent the weight of cargo shipped by barges on the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

"Substantial curtailment of navigation will effectively sever the country's inland waterway superhighway, imperil the shipment of critical cargo for domestic consumption and for export, threaten manufacturing industries and power generation, and risk thousands of related jobs in the Midwest," wrote the senators.

Signing the letter were senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin of Iowa; Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill of Missouri; Mark Pryor and John Boozman of Arkansas; Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Mary Landrieu and David Vitter of Louisiana; Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi; Mark Kirk of Illinois; Lamar Alexander of Tennessee; Joe Manchin of West Virginia; and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been battling extreme low-water conditions on the Mississippi for months following the country's worst drought in half a century.

(Reporting By Charles Abbott; editing by Jim Marshall)

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Qatar, Arab Spring sponsor, jails poet for life

DOHA (Reuters) - A court in Qatar, which has supported Arab uprisings abroad, jailed a local poet for life on Thursday for criticizing the emir and inciting revolt - a sentence that drew outrage and cries of hypocrisy from human rights groups.

In his verses, Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami praised the Arab Spring revolts that toppled four dictators, often with the help of money and other support from the tiny, energy-rich Gulf state. But he also criticized Qatar's own absolute monarch and spoke, for example, of "sheikhs playing on their Playstations".

"This is a tremendous miscarriage of justice," said defence lawyer Nagib al-Naimi, who conveyed the verdict to Reuters after a trial held behind closed doors in the capital Doha.

At the prison where he has been held for a year, Ajami, 36, later told Reuters he believed the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, to be "a good man" who must be unaware of his plight. Lawyer Naimi said the defence would appeal. A royal pardon may also be a possibility.

Ajami was not himself allowed in court and Naimi said the defence was barred from making oral arguments, although he contested the prosecution case that Ajami called for revolution in Qatar - an offence which carries the death penalty.

For Amnesty International, Middle East director Philip Luther said in a statement: "It is deplorable that Qatar, which likes to paint itself internationally as a country that promotes freedom of expression, is indulging in what appears to be such a flagrant abuse of that right."

Amnesty described Ajami's arrest in November 2011 as coming after he published a poem named "Jasmine" - for the symbol of the Tunisian revolt in January last year that launched the Arab Spring. In a broad criticism of Gulf rulers, he had written: "We are all Tunisia, in the face of the repressive elite."

"PLAYING WITH PLAYSTATIONS"

Ajami "did not encourage the overthrow of any specific regime", Naimi said. He described the charges as having been "inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime", a capital offence, and criticising the ruler, which is punishable by up to five years imprisonment under the Qatari penal code.

Among offending passages from the poem, translated from Arabic, was the line: "If the sheikhs cannot carry out justice, we should change the power and give it to the beautiful woman."

In another section, Ajami accused a fellow poet of being "with the sheikhs, playing with their Playstations."

Naimi, who has been largely in solitary confinement, spoke to Reuters in the presence of prison guards and others: "The Emir is a good man," he said. "I think he doesn't know that they have me here for a year, that they have put me in a single room.

"If he knew, I would be freed," he said, noting the Qatari ruler's past promotion of a more open society, including his hosting of the groundbreaking television channel Al Jazeera, which has given a voice to many opposition groups abroad.

"This is wrong," Ajami said. "You can't have Al Jazeera in this country and put me in jail for being a poet."

Qatar, a close U.S. ally and major natural gas producer with a large American military base, has escaped the unrest seen in other Arab countries. The emir has taken a high-profile role at times in calling for human rights - for example, when he went to Gaza last month, the first foreign leader there in years.

Al Jazeera has assiduously covered the Arab revolts, though it gave scant coverage to an uprising last year in neighboring Bahrain - ruled by another Gulf Arab monarchy.

The Qatari government has also taken a prominent role in the confrontation between, on the one hand, Sunni Muslim-ruled Arab states like itself and Saudi Arabia and, on the other, non-Arab Iran and its Shi'ite allies in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere.

"DOUBLE STANDARDS"

Qatar is backing the rebels in Syria's civil war. It supported the NATO-backed uprising in Libya and street protests that ousted rulers in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. The emirate's maroon and white flag has been a common sight on the streets of Arab capitals where demonstrators have challenged autocracy.

But freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the small Gulf state, home to less than two million people. Self-censorship is prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets. Qatar has no organized political opposition.

In October, Human Rights Watch criticized what it said was a double standard on freedom of expression in Qatar and urged the emir not to approve a draft media law penalizing criticism of the Gulf emirate and its neighbors.

In neighboring monarchy Saudi Arabia, human rights activist Ali al-Hattab said: "We are shocked by the verdict.

"Qatar has tried to help other countries like Libya and Syria become more democratic, but they won't accept it at home.

"It's shameful, and a double standard."

(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai and Dasha Afanasieva in London; Editing by Andrew Hammond, Mark Heinrich and Alastair Macdonald)

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Mauritanian president says returning to France for treatment

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said on Thursday he will once again travel to France for medical treatment for a bullet wound he suffered in mid-October.

The Western ally in the fight against al Qaeda in Africa already spent nearly six weeks in France recuperating from the wound to his abdomen, which his government said was caused when a Mauritanian patrol accidentally fired on his car.

He returned to Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, last Saturday, easing fears concerning the state of his health and uncertainty over who was managing the country - which has suffered two coups since 2005.

"I leave tomorrow for appointments in France," Abdel Aziz said in a press conference broadcast on national television. "I need to do further testing and X-rays. I will leave only for a few days," he said.

He has repeatedly said that he has remained in charge of the country throughout the ordeal, and that his injury was not life threatening.

Straddling black and Arab Africa on the continent's west coast, Mauritania, a country of 3.2 million people, is an iron ore, copper and gold producer with a budding off-shore oil and gas sector.

The country has launched at least two airstrikes on Islamist camps in neighboring Mali since 2010, raising fears of a fresh attack on Mauritanian soil.

The northern two-thirds of Mali is now in the hands of al Qaeda-linked rebels since a coup earlier this year, and African and western governments are mulling an international intervention to retake the zone.

On Thursday, rebels from Islamist group Ansar Dine took control of a Malian town near the Mauritanian border after ousting Tuareg rebels from the MNLA separatist group.

(Reporting by Laurent Prieur; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Lindsay Lohan risks return to jail after double trouble

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan on Thursday faced the possibility of being sent back to jail after a tumultuous 24 hours in which she was arrested in New York for assault, and charged in California with reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash.

Lohan, 26, who has been to rehab, jail and court multiple times since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession, is still on unsupervised probation in Los Angeles for a 2011 jewelry theft.

But prosecutors in Santa Monica, California, said in a statement on Thursday that the "Mean Girls" actress lied to police when she told them she was not at the wheel of her Porsche when it smashed into a truck on a busy highway in the summer.

They charged Lohan with three misdemeanor counts stemming from that collision, hours after the troubled starlet was arrested on suspicion of punching a woman in the face at a Manhattan nightclub.

Lohan's New York attorney Mark Heller said the actress was "a victim of someone trying to capture their 15 minutes of fame."

"From my initial investigation, I am completely confident that this case will be concluded favorably and that Lindsay will be completely exonerated," Heller said in a statement on the nightclub incident.

Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, which handled the 2011 jewelry case, said prosecutors were still awaiting paperwork from New York and Santa Monica to determine if they will pursue a probation violation case against Lohan.

A Los Angeles judge told Lohan in March that she must obey all rules until 2014, and advised her to stop night-clubbing and focus on her work.

The two incidents came during a rough week for the former "Parent Trap" child star, who was once considered one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood.

Her comeback performance on Sunday as screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie "Liz & Dick," was panned by critics and watched by a disappointingly small U.S. TV audience of 3.5 million.

In New York, Lohan was briefly arrested shortly after 4 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday on a third-degree misdemeanor assault charge against a 28-year-old woman, police said. The victim suffered minor injuries, New York Police Sergeant John Buthorn said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com said Lohan had been drinking heavily and lashed out in a stand-off over one of the members of British boy band The Wanted, who were also at the club after playing a concert in New York.

Lohan's recent visits to New York have featured run-ins with police and public spats over the last three months.

In October, police were called to the Long Island home of Lohan's mother, Dina, after a loud argument, though no arrests were made. In September, Lohan was arrested in Manhattan after a pedestrian told police her car had struck him in an alley, but charges were not filed.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in New York and Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Xavier Briand and Eric Walsh)

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Strauss-Kahn in preliminary deal to settle case with maid

NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) - Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a civil lawsuit brought against him by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year, sources familiar with the case said.

U.S. and France-based lawyers for Strauss-Kahn, who was once tipped to become French president, on Friday acknowledged a deal was under discussion, but said it had not yet been finalized.

They also denied as "flatly false" and "fanciful" a report that he agreed on a $6 million settlement.

"The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement. Mr. Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached," Strauss-Kahn's U.S. lawyers, William Taylor and Amit Mehta, said in a statement.

"Media reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has agreed to pay six million dollars to settle the civil case are flatly false."

French daily Le Monde, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, said he and the maid Nafissatou Diallo would meet a judge in New York on December 7 to sign a $6 million settlement and close an affair that ended the Frenchman's International Monetary Fund career and wrecked his presidential ambitions.

"The discussions have been going on for weeks, months. The agreement should be confirmed at the start of next week," Michele Saban, a friend of Strauss-Kahn who saw him recently, told Reuters in Paris. She could not confirm the sum involved.

"We are moving towards the end of a tragedy," she said, adding that Diallo had always been open to negotiating a settlement despite reticence from her lawyers.

Le Monde said 63-year-old Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3 million and would be lent the other $3 million by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris.

Strauss-Kahn's Paris-based legal team declined to comment on whether a deal had been reached with Diallo, but denied Le Monde's report of the sum involved.

"Neither Dominique Strauss-Kahn nor his lawyers will comment on proceedings in the United States. That said, however, they strenuously deny the erroneous and fanciful information relayed by Le Monde," said a statement from the Paris lawyers.

The New York Times, which first reported the development, also said the pair would appear before a judge in New York next week. It said the settlement sum could not be determined.

END OF THE AFFAIR

News of the U.S. deal comes as Strauss-Kahn is awaiting a decision by a French court on December 19 on whether to call off a sex offence inquiry involving parties in Lille attended by prostitutes, where he risks trial on a charge of "aggravated pimping".

If that case is dropped and Diallo ends her civil case, Strauss-Kahn would have a freer rein to pursue his consultancy work and could even consider a tentative return to public life in France, where he has been shunned since the Diallo scandal.

Images of the then IMF chief paraded before TV cameras in handcuffs before being charged with attempted rape shocked the world and led to French media raking over smutty details of the former finance minister's private life.

"That's the end, not only of this affair, but of any potential affair because one of the reasons for signing this kind of agreement is that both parties agree that they will never again bring a lawsuit," Christopher Mesnooh, a U.S. lawyer who practices in France, said of the Diallo agreement.

"There will always be people who wonder about what happened in New York and in Lille, but from a legal standpoint if he gets all this behind him, he's a free man," he added.

Diallo alleged that Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex on May 14, 2011, in his suite at the Manhattan Sofitel.

The criminal prosecution fell apart after doubts emerged concerning Diallo's credibility as a witness and the attempted rape charges against Strauss-Kahn were eventually dropped.

Strauss-Kahn, who in May 2011 was days from entering this year's French presidential election, has maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual, although he said in a TV interview after his return to France that he regretted his "moral error".

He filed his own countersuit against the maid earlier this year, claiming that Diallo's accusations had destroyed his career and harmed his reputation.

In recent months, Strauss-Kahn has been making a comeback under-the-radar with a handful of speaking engagements at private conferences and by setting up a business consultancy firm in Paris.

(Reporting by Noeleen Walder in New York and Emmanuel Jarry, Johnny Cotton and Thierry Leveque in Paris; Writing by Catherine Bremer and Brian Love; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Judge who named Starr to probe Clinton to retire

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The conservative U.S. federal judge who helped to appoint Kenneth Starr as an independent counsel to investigate President Bill Clinton, prompting first lady Hillary Clinton to complain of a "vast right-wing conspiracy," is planning a partial retirement in February.

The decision by Judge David Sentelle, an anchor of the conservative side of the federal judiciary, will open a fourth vacancy on a Washington, D.C., appeals court considered second in influence to the U.S. Supreme Court.

His semi-retirement, known as "senior status," was disclosed on a judiciary website that monitors future vacancies.

President Barack Obama has faced difficulty persuading the Senate to confirm his nominees for the 11-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which hears many cases arising from federal agencies.

Sentelle, who turns 70 next year, was a federal prosecutor and judge in North Carolina before President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the appeals court in 1987.

He was chief of a three-judge panel that in 1994 appointed Starr - a former appeals court judge - as the one to investigate President Bill Clinton over a real estate investment and other matters.

Starr's investigation widened to include Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and led to Clinton's impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Without mentioning Sentelle's name, Hillary Clinton noted the judge's ties to Republican senators in a 1998 national television interview in which she spoke about a conspiracy against her husband.

Starr released a statement calling her comments "nonsense."

Known for direct, colorful questions to lawyers, Sentelle wrote a book, "Judge Dave and the Rainbow People," based on his handling of a court case involving a gathering of hippies in the North Carolina mountains.

He did not immediately return a call to his chambers on Friday.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Howard Goller and David Storey)

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Putin aide denies Russian president has health problems

TOKYO/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin is in good health, his chief of staff said on Friday after Japanese media said Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had postponed a visit to Moscow next month because the Russian president had a health problem.

A former KGB officer who enjoys vast authority in Russia, Putin has long cultivated a tough-guy image, and health issues could damage that. His condition though has been questioned in some media since he was seen limping at a summit in September.

Three Russian government sources told Reuters late in October that Putin, who began a six-year term in May and turned 60 last month, was suffering from back trouble, but the Kremlin has dismissed talk that he had a serious back problem.

Putin's health troubles stem from a recent judo bout, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said this week.

Then on Friday Japanese news agencies Kyodo and Jiji reported that Prime Minister Noda talked about the delay of a visit planned for December in a meeting with municipal officials on the northern island of Hokkaido.

"It's about (President Putin's) health problem. This is not something that can easily be made public," Jiji cited one of the officials as quoting Noda as saying.

But Putin's chief of staff Sergei Ivanov denied there was any problem.

"Please don't worry, don't be concerned. Everything is in order with his health," Putin's said in Vienna, according to state-run Russian news agency RIA.

In an interview published on Friday in the popular Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said rumors about a spine problem were "strongly exaggerated".

"He is working as he has before and intends to continue working at the same pace," Peskov said.

"He also does not plan to give up his sports activities and for this reason, like any athlete, his back, his arm, his leg might sometimes hurt a little - this has never gotten in the way of his ability to work."

Putin had been expected to make several foreign trips in late October or November, but they did not take place.

Putin is however due to visit Turkey on Monday and Turkmenistan on Wednesday.

Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, made amply clear the Kremlin was displeased by the public discussion of scheduling by Japanese officials and denied that Noda's visit had been postponed, saying no date had been set.

"It is just unethical to name the dates that were discussed. There were several: at first it was October, November, December, January ... then we even shifted to February," Ushakov said, adding that the sides eventually agreed tentatively on January.

He said the diplomatic process of agreeing dates for the visit should have been "hermetically sealed".

Putin's image as a fit, healthy man helped bring him popularity when he rose to power 13 years ago because of the stark contrast with his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who was sometimes drunk in public and had heart surgery when president.

He has used activities like scuba diving and horseback riding to maintain that image.

On Friday, Putin met leaders of parliamentary factions in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow. He appeared in good health and was walking without any sign of a limp.

Likely to be on the agenda in talks between Russian and Japanese officials are energy cooperation and a decades-old dispute over islands north of Hokkaido known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

(Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Tomasz Janowski and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jon Hemming)

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Korean pop rides "Gangnam Style" into U.S. music scene

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Gangnam Style," the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn't horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer's phenomenal U.S. success.

With "Gangnam Style" topping the current Billboard Digital Songs chart and becoming the most-watched video on YouTube ever with more than 800 million views, fellow Korean pop, or K-pop, artists are positioning themselves for similar U.S. breakthroughs.

Korea's pop music industry is thriving. Over the past two years, a handful of K-pop acts including girl group 2NE1, boy band Super Junior and nine-piece band Girls Generation have embarked on mini-promotional tours around the United States to build their audience.

"Psy has opened doors and is shining a spotlight on K-pop. People are paying attention to what's being done there," Alina Moffat, general manager at YG Entertainment group, which manages Psy, told a recent entertainment industry conference in Los Angeles.

Psy's vibrant music video, featuring his invisible pony-riding dance, also featured K-pop artists Kim Hyun-a of girl band 4Minute, and Deasung and Seungri of boy band Big Bang, all of whom are attempting to crack the U.S. market.

"YouTube has really changed the awareness of K-pop. Both American kids and second-generation Korean American kids are discovering it," Kye Kyoungbon Koo, director of the Korea Creative Content Agency, told a panel at a Billboard and Hollywood Reporter conference in Los Angeles in October.

MARKETING THE NEXT BIG THING

For U.S. companies looking to invest, K-pop is being marketed as the next big thing, boasting young, stylish and influential artists who command devoted fan followings.

Moffat said car companies and mobile phone brands were among those being courted at KCON, a convention held in October in Irvine in Southern California that showcased K-pop artists.

"Kids are coming, they're engaged, they want to spend money and sponsors saw that," Moffat said.

Whether Psy or other K-pop artists can command a global following to rival Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or Rihanna remains to be seen, but John Shim, senior producer at MTV World, believes it is the right genre to compete with pop music's biggest names.

"K-pop admittedly is a very niche genre but I also think it's the best equipped of Asian pop to cater to the U.S. audience," Shim told Reuters.

Psy has helped to break down language barriers, keeping "Gangnam Style" in its original Korean form instead of adapting it to English when it became an international hit.

The singer told Reuters he was persuaded to keep it that way by his manager Scooter Braun, the talent scout responsible for Justin Bieber's success, who signed Psy to his record label.

"I thought, 'Should I translate this or not?' because (the fans) have got to know what I'm talking about, and lyrics are a huge part," Psy said.

CHATTING IN ENGLISH

But industry executives say at least one member of each K-Pop group is usually taught to be fluent in conversational English.

"The investment in language is costly, but effective," said Ted Kim, president of South Korean music television channel Mnet. "It really matters that Psy can go on the Ellen DeGeneres TV show and have a conversation."

Psy said he was proud his song succeeded in Korean, but he now wants to branch out into English.

"'Gangnam Style' is not the sort of thing that's going to happen twice. I've definitely got to make something in English so I can communicate with my fans right now," the singer said.

In Korea, bands such as SM Entertainment's Super Junior and Girls Generation have became branding powerhouses, scoring endorsements ranging from cosmetics, fashion, video games, electronics and beverages.

In the United States, companies such as Samsung have already jumped on the K-pop train, sponsoring Korean boy band Big Bang's U.S. tour.

But while the genre is gaining steam in the charts, it has yet to spill into ticket sales for tours, according to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief at Pollstar.com, which tracks concert sales.

"Psy may be able to sell out arenas in Asia, but not yet here. For the American audience, he has to prove that he's more than a novelty act," Bongiovanni said.

"K-pop has to prove itself before large companies spend money on it," he added.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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U.S. election, iPhone 5, Kardashian top Yahoo! 2012 searches

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential election became the most-searched item and Kim Kardashian was the most-searched person on Yahoo! in a year when online searches were dominated by big news stories and pop culture obsessions, the search engine company said on Monday.

The search term "election" topped the list of searches, led not only by extensive media coverage but also widening conversation on online social media platforms.

The term "political polls" was No. 8 of the top 10 Yahoo! searches of the year.

"The 2012 elections dominated the online searches, which is amazing because if something is in the news, it's already accessible ... people were really saturated by it, but even so, that was a key word that people typed throughout the year," Vera Chan, Yahoo!'s web trend analyst, said in a conference call.

Chan said only two other news stories have topped the list in the past decade, those being the death of Michael Jackson in 2009 and the BP oil spill in 2010.

"iPhone 5" came in at No. 2, which Chan said was interesting "in a post-Steve Jobs era" because while Apple Inc's iPhone has featured regularly in the top searches since the first generation emerged in 2007, this was the first time a specific model had appeared high on the list.

Reality star Kim Kardashian was the most-searched person on the website, coming in at No. 3 and leading six famous women in the top 10.

Chan said Kardashian's "notoriety has kept her at the top," citing her ongoing divorce saga with ex-husband Kris Humphries, her high-profile relationship with rapper Kanye West and her E! channel reality shows.

Sports Illustrated cover model Kate Upton, British royal Kate Middleton, late singer Whitney Houston, troubled former child star Lindsay Lohan and pop star and former "American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez all featured in the top 10 after being in the news prominently throughout the year.

Middleton, who was followed eagerly by fans and critics in her first year as a royal married to Britain's Prince William and being a staple at the London Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, also garnered the most-searched scandal of the year when a French magazine published photos of her topless.

"olympics" came in at No. 7 on the list, as many turned to online media to watch and keep tabs on the global sporting event held in London during the summer.

On Yahoo!'s separate list of top-searched obsessions, pop culture dominated this year, with "The Hunger Games," reality star Honey Boo Boo, erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey," British boy band One Direction, Carly Rae Jepsen's hit song "Call Me Maybe" and Korean rapper Psy's "Gangnam Style" featuring in the top 10.

Yahoo! Inc compiles its annual search lists based on aggregated visitor activity on the network and billions of consumer searches.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Obama salutes entertainers at Kennedy Center Honors

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Music legend Led Zeppelin was recognized on Sunday alongside entertainers from stage and screen for their contributions to the arts and American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors, lifetime achievement awards for performing artists.

The eclectic tribute in Washington, alternated between solemn veneration and lighthearted roasting of honorees Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, wisecracking late-night talk show host David Letterman, blues guitar icon Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova and Led Zeppelin.

"I worked with the speechwriters - there is no smooth transition from ballet to Led Zeppelin," President Barack Obama deadpanned while introducing the honorees at a ceremony in the White House East Room.

Friends, contemporaries and a new generation of artists influenced by the honorees took the stage in tribute.

"Dustin Hoffman is a pain the ass," actor Robert DeNiro, a former honoree, said in introducing the infamously perfectionist star of such celebrated films as "The Graduate" and "Tootsie."

"And he inspired me to be a bit of a pain in the ass too," DeNiro said with a big smile.

At a weekend dinner for the winners at the State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that the performing arts often requires a touch of diplomacy as she toasted Makarova, a dance icon in the former Soviet Union when she defected in 1970.

Makarova, the pride of her national ballet program, said she obeyed an impulse for creative freedom when she sought asylum while in London for a performance.

"It's most incredible because it looks like I lived two lives," the artist told reporters before the event. "I've come a long way, baby, no? That's the way someone said it for me."

The lightest moments came in the tribute to variety show host David Letterman. Several performers said his oddball program was a worthy successor to "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," which was the standard bearer for late-night shows from the 1960s through the early 1990s.

Comedian Tina Fey, honored with the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2010, marveled at Letterman's ability to goad and humble his celebrity guests.

"David Letterman is a professor emeritus at the 'Here's Some More Rope Institute,'" she joked.

Letterman, who joked earlier in the weekend that he was going to fund an investigation to determine how he was given the honor, was at a loss for words on the red carpet.

"I was full of trepidation, but now I am full of nothing but gratitude," he said. "I don't believe this, but it's been nice for my family."

Despite the president's misgivings about his own speech, performances at the Kennedy Center easily transitioned from precision dance tributes for Makarova to gritty blues music when the spotlight turned to Guy, a sharecropper's son who made his first instrument with wire scrounged from his family's home in rural Louisiana.

"He's one of the most idiosyncratic and passionate blues greats, and there are not many left of that original generation," said Bonnie Raitt, who as an 18-year-old blues singer was often the warm-up act for Guy.

Raitt led an ensemble tribute that included singer Tracy Chapman and guitarist Jeff Beck.

Guy, 76, was a pioneer in the Chicago blues style that pushed the sound of electrically amped guitar to the forefront of the music.

"You mastered the soul of gut bucket," actor Morgan Freeman told the Kennedy Center audience. "You made a bridge from roots to rock 'n roll."

In a toast on Saturday night, former President Bill Clinton talked of Guy's impoverished upbringing and how he improvised a guitar from the strands of a porch screen, paint can and his mother's hair pins.

"In Buddy's immortal phrase, the blues is 'Something you play because you have it. And when you play it, you lose it.'"

It was a version of the blues that drifted over the Atlantic to Britain and echoed back in the heart-pounding rock sound of Led Zeppelin.

Jimmy Page, 68, was the guitar impresario who anchored the compositions with vocalist Robert Plant, 64, howling and screeching out the soul. Bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, 66, rounded out the band with drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980.

The incongruity of the famously hard-partying rock stars in black tie under chandeliers at a White House ceremony was not lost on Obama.

"Of course, these guys also redefined the rock and roll lifestyle," the president said, to laughter and sheepish looks from the band members.

"So it's fitting that we're doing this in a room with windows that are about three inches thick - and Secret Service all around," Obama said. "So, guys, just settle down."

On stage Sunday night, Nancy and Ann Wilson of the rock band Heart, belted out Zeppelin's emblematic "Stairway to Heaven" to close out the show.

The gala will be aired on CBS television on December 26.

(Reporting By Patrick Rucker and Mark Felsenthal)

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