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Raul the 'kid' hints at new Schalke deal

Former Real Madrid legend Raul has hinted he could extend his stay with Schalke 04 until 2013 because the German Bundesliga club has given him back his enthusiasm for playing football.

Schalke are currently languishing in 10th in the table, a massive 29 points behind league leaders Borussia Dortmund, but have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the German Cup final.

Raul signed a two-year deal with Schalke in July 2010, but he is ready to extend that by another year if the German club come calling.

"I think I've shown in the past eight months that I've come to Schalke 04 to achieve something and not just to bring a peaceful end to my career," the 33-year-old Spaniard told the Suddeustche Zeitung daily.

"My contract ends in a year but I would be open to extending it by another year, if the club want me to.

"I'm enjoying my football again. I wake every morning and get excited about going to training. It's like being a kid again."

Raul warned, however: "I will stop playing when this enthusiasm for football goes."

A three-time Champions League winner with nine-time champions Real Madrid, Raul is still the top scorer in European club football with a record 71 goals, 69 of which have been scored in the Champions League.

With Schalke continuing to struggle on the domestic front, having sacked their coach Felix Magath last month, Raul admits it's been a strange season so far.

"It's a bit of a strange season," he added. "We're playing badly in the Bundesliga, but we're in the final of the German Cup and the quarter-finals of the Champions League."

He added: "Magath stands out from all the coaches I've known in the past, but I've never had cause to complain about him."

Ancient Maya ritual ahead of Obama El Salvador trip

El Salvador's Maya Indians on Sunday invoked the forces of nature in an ancient ritual to help US President Barack Obama -- set to visit the Central American nation in days -- make wise decisions.

The ceremony for Obama was part of an annual equinox ritual held by members of the country's Maya community.

"We beg the volcanoes, the mountains, and the grandmothers and grandfathers, to call on the energy of the sun to surround president Obama as he makes decisions," an indigenous shaman named "Tata" Neto said.

Five Maya priests, including Neto -- also known as Jose Ernesto Campos -- tossed candles and cacao seeds onto a fireplace on a stone altar at an ancient Maya ceremonial site. Around 100 people who gathered for the ceremony prayed.

"We are going in the wrong direction of our grandfathers and grandmothers, who 7,000 years built the Maya civilization," said another priest named Francisco Rozas.

"Untangle the spider web of all this technology," said a third priest.

The ceremony was held at the Tec-Pan Maya ceremonial center, near Ciudad Arce, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of the capital San Salvador, under the watchful eye of three US Secret Service agents preparing for Obama's visit.

Obama is scheduled to visit El Salvador Tuesday and Wednesday on the final leg of his three-nation Latin America tour. The US president began the trip in Brazil, and is set to be in Chile on Monday.

The Mayans are descendants of communities that built pre-Columbian stone cities in the Central American jungle. The culture thrived between the years 250 and 900, then broke up into competing city-states that were captured by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century.

Maya communities, found today across much of Central America and southern Mexico, have faced discrimination and occasional acts of genocide for centuries.

One of the priests recalled the 1932 slaughter of 30,000 Maya Indians during the dictatorship of General Maximiliano Hernandez. The Maya were also targeted during El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war.

More than 500,000 tickets sold for Women's WCup

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More than a half-million tickets for this summer's Women's World Cup already have been sold, with games featuring host Germany, the United States and Brazil generating the most interest.

A total of 800,000 tickets were available for purchase, and local organizing committee president Steffi Jones said Friday she is still hoping for sellouts at all 32 games. She plans to tour the nine cities where games will be played in hopes of sparking additional interest among local fans.

China holds the attendance record for a Women's World Cup, drawing almost 1.2 million fans to the 2007 tournament that was won by Germany.

"We are trying to make this last-minute sales for these games that haven't been sold out," said Jones, who is in the United States as part of her tour of the 16 qualifying nations. "We have (people from) so many nations living in Germany that we are trying to get them into the stadiums so it's a great atmosphere when we have the games in our stadiums."

The Women's World Cup begins June 26, with the final July 17 in Frankfurt. Berlin and Frankfurt are the only carry-over sites from the men's World Cup in 2006. Games also will be played in Wolfsburg, Moenchengladbach, Bochum, Leverkusen, Dresden, Sinsheim and Augsburg.

The tournament will be broadcast to about 200 countries, Jones said, including live coverage of all 32 games in the United States on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Germany is a favorite to win a third straight World Cup along with the United States, the only other two-time winner and reigning Olympic champion, and Brazil, the runner-up at both the 2007 World Cup and Beijing Games in 2008. But the women's game has gotten stronger throughout the world, as the Americans learned last fall.

The United States was forced to beat Italy in a playoff after being stunned by Mexico in regional qualifying. China, the runner-up in 1999, didn't even make the World Cup. Neither did Argentina, which won the South American championship in 2006 and played in the last two World Cups.

Colombia and Equatorial Guinea are making their World Cup debuts this year.

"You can see that it's really getting tighter and tighter," said Jones, who was part of the German team that won the World Cup in 2003. "I think there will be surprises. If you ask our coach, she always says Japan, North Korea, maybe another European team, maybe an African team."

Still, Jones expects to see Germany and the United States in the semifinals.

"The other two, we'll see," she said.

While a deep run by Germany would be ideal for tournament organizers, Jones said she thinks local fans will support whoever is playing. Almost 400,000 people turned out for the Under-20 World Cup last summer, including a crowd of 21,146 for the third-place game between South Korea and Mexico.

"That's what makes the World Cup, that fans come and cheer for any teams that play," Jones said. "I hope that our team does well, too, but also that other teams feel welcomed."

Windows Phone 7 'NoDo' Update Rolling Out to HTC HD7

NoDo," which brings features like "cut and paste" to the Microsoft mobile platform, started rolling out to the HTC HD7 on Tuesday.

"Software update is coming for @HTC HD7. Watch for a pop-up message to alert you when the update is ready," according to afrom T-Mobile, which offers the smartphone on its network.

T-Mobilethe rollout started on March 29 and is a two-part update. The first one updates the device registry, while the second update adds the meatier features like cut and paste, improved marketplace search, a fix for increased data consumption , and different background images while connected to Wi-Fi.

The update isalso rolling out to T-Mobile's Dell Venue Pro.

On the Web siteto track its Windows Phone 7 updates, the Venue Pro and HD7 are still in "scheduling" mode, as they were when that site launched. Scheduling means the operator testing is complete and Microsoft is scheduling the update for delivery, a phase that can last up to 10 days. "Delivering" is the final phase. On the Windows Phone support Twitter feed, the companythe chart is updated once a week.

Microsoft rolled out a more minor update last month, but it , prompting Microsoft to temporarily suspend the update for Samsung phones. The issue resulted in Microsoftto late March.

On Monday, Joe Belfiore, vice president for Windows Phone at Microsoft,for the update delays and glitches.

The HTC Surround, LG Quantum, and Samsung Focus are still in "testing" phase on Microsoft's Web site. The HTC Arrive had this update installed at launch.

Cowell courts groups, maybe Abdul for `X Factor'

LOS ANGELES – Simon Cowell wants his new Fox talent series "The X Factor" to include controversy, vocal groups and, maybe, Paula Abdul on the judging panel.

"We've spoken to her, she knows I'm a big fan," Cowell said of his former fellow "American Idol" judge. "I've always said at some point we are going to be working together."

But, he added, "I have to take everyone's opinions into account," including the show's other producers and the network.

A decision about who will join Cowell on the four-member panel has yet to be made and won't be announced for another month or so, he said during an interview and teleconference about "The X Factor."

The show debuts this fall. Cowell exited Fox's "American Idol" last season in part to focus on the new series, which has been a successful format in several countries since its debut in Britain in 2004. Abdul quit "Idol" in 2009 over a salary dispute.

The winner of the U.S. version of "X Factor" will nab a $5 million recording contract with Syco, a joint venture between Cowell and Sony Music. Cowell said that's not a "dressed up" sum: It represents $1 million a year payment for five years, separate from the costs of recording and promotion.

Cowell, known for his sharp-tongued critiques, unsurprisingly said he favors shows on which "anything can happen."

"I rip up the rule that everybody pretends to be friends and they're all going to be pen pals for the rest of their lives, which is complete and utter nonsense," he said. "I like people who are ambitious, and with that comes controversy."

One unwelcome flap last season on the U.K. version of "X Factor" involved the revelation that the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune was used on at least one contestant's taped audition. Cowell said Monday it was the work of sound technicians and done without his knowledge.

"Once we found out what was going on it was stopped immediately. ... The most important part was once the show went live and (viewers) could see that everyone was singing live and it was a proper, fair competition."

The "X Factor" contest is open to those 12 and older, including groups. Cowell is eager to find breakout talent such as the Black Eyed Peas or Destiny's Child.

"I'm genuinely staggered this hasn't happened. All the signs are out there, from `Glee' to `High School Musical,'" he said, advising "any group of guys, girls, family group members, get it together now. There's a massive, massive opportunity here because you don't have a lot of competition."

The hefty top prize puts pressure on Cowell as well as the winner.

"If they don't sell a single record they still get to keep the money," he said. "It is pressure, because if the wrong person wins, I'm in trouble. ... We've got to find somebody fantastic to get the money back" through record sales.

To do that, he needs to find a talented performer who has a sound work ethic, which he said is something he wants to "instill" in the competition.

"The big, big stars are the people prepared to work at it. You look at somebody like Beyonce: She is the best example of somebody who works it every hour of the day," he said.

Cowell, as "American Idol" viewers know, doesn't lack for confidence: "I believe I can find a star," he said.

He has seen only a few minutes of this season's "American Idol" and its reconstituted panel with Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, he said. But he's been reassured by its ratings stability that viewers still have an appetite for talent shows — a good sign for "X Factor."

Fox said Monday that auditions for contestants begin March 27 in Los Angeles, with other sessions following in the Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Seattle and New York areas.

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Fox is a unit of News Corp.

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