WORLD NEWS

Welles's "Citizen Kane" Oscar sells for $861,542

2011-12-21T08:41:00.001-08:00

(Reuters) - Orson Welles's Oscar for writing "Citizen Kane" -- regarded as one of the best films ever made -- sold for $861,542 on Tuesday as a hot market for Hollywood memorabilia helped erase memories of an unsuccessful auction four years ago.

The best screenplay statuette awarded in 1942 -- the only Oscar given to Citizen Kane -- failed to meet its undisclosed reserve price when it was last up for auction at Sotheby's New York in 2007. At that time it was expected to sell for around $1 million.

Although tarnished by age, the Oscar, sold by Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Saunders on behalf of its anonymous seller, carried a reserve price of between $600,000 and $1 million. Bids came in from around the world in what the auction house termed an "exciting" sale.

"This is a testament to the popularity of Orson Welles and his magnum opus Citizen Kane," said Nate D. Saunders, owner of the auction house, in a statement.
The Oscar has a story worthy of a Hollywood movie in its own right. Welles had lost it, but it resurfaced after his 1985 death when it was put up for auction in 1994 by a cinematographer, who claimed Welles had given it to him as a form of payment.
Welles's daughter Beatrice sued and won back ownership of the statue, but she was sued in turn by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the awards, when she tried to auction it in 2003.
After a legal battle, Beatrice Welles was given the right to dispose of the Oscar. She sold it to a California non-profit organization called the Dax Foundation, who tried unsuccessfully to auction it in 2007.
In a bid to stop public sales, the Academy in 1950 introduced an agreement that banned winners from selling their Oscars to anyone but the Academy for the nominal sum of $1.
But several pre-1950s Oscars have gone under the hammer in recent years, including the best picture Oscar for the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind," which was sold for a record $1.54 million in 1999 to Michael Jackson.

"Citizen Kane," a 1942 drama about the ruthless pursuit of power, which Welles also directed and starred in, regularly tops U.S. and British lists of the greatest film of all time.

In a sign of how heated the memorabilia market has become, auctions of Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewels, gown, art and memorabilia broke records last week on their way to totaling more than $150 million worth of live and online sales, Christie's said on Monday.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; editing by Paul Casciato)

Exclusive: Amazon weighed buying RIM but interest cooled

2011-12-21T08:40:00.001-08:00

A BlackBerry handset is displayed in Washington, December 15, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd has turned down takeover overtures from Amazon.com Inc and other potential buyers because the BlackBerry maker prefers to fix its problems on its own, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Amazon hired an investment bank this summer to review a potential merger with RIM, but it did not make a formal offer, said one of the sources. It is not clear whether informal discussions between Amazon and RIM ever led to specific price talk, or who else had approached RIM about a takeover.

RIM's board wants co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to focus on trying to turn around the business through the launch of new phones, better use of assets such as BlackBerry Messaging and restructuring, two sources said. They did not want to be identified as the discussions are private. RIM and Amazon declined to comment.

While RIM could strike technology licensing deals and other kinds of commercial partnerships to boost revenue, an outright sale or joint venture is not on the cards for now, they said.

"They have had approaches from folks who have wanted to have discussions," said one head of technology investment banking at a Wall Street bank. "The issue is it is hard to find a value that makes sense with a falling knife."

RIM's market value has plunged 77 percent in the last 12 months to about $6.8 billion following a series of disappointing quarterly reports, delayed phone launches, weak sales of the PlayBook tablet and other missteps. The shares tumbled last week on weaker-than-expected quarterly results and the announcement of a delay in the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 phones.

Activist shareholder Jaguar Financial Corp has called for a sale of RIM - as a whole or in separate parts, such as the handset business or the patent portfolio.

But RIM's management has told interested parties they do not want to sell or break up the company at this juncture, the sources told Reuters. After last week's news, the board instructed the co-CEOs to set aside any options for a sale, one person briefed on the situation said.

"Selling the company or an economic joint venture is probably not in the cards right now," said the source. "Until you stabilize the platform, people are going to be very nervous about spending $10 billion or more."

Some potential corporate and private equity suitors are holding out for RIM's valuation to fall further, people familiar with the matter said.

AMAZON, RIM STILL IN DISCUSSIONS

Amazon and RIM are still discussing ways to expand their commercial ties, which currently include a service launched last year to make Amazon's music catalog available to some BlackBerry users, according to the sources.

Amazon launched the Kindle Fire tablet in November, which, along with the content the company can package with it, is seen as a potentially formidable contender to Apple Inc's iPad and iTunes store. Amazon does not make smartphones.

As for RIM, it feels it could better "leverage" its assets, such as the BBM instant messaging and the network operation centers that allow for messages to be processed, the sources said.

RIM could also look at licensing out its QNX operating system after the late 2012 launch of BlackBerry 10, which will be the first smartphones using that software, to give handset makers an alternative to Google's Android operating system.

DISTRACTION

RIM's co-CEOs have spent months listening to ideas from a investment bankers, strategic parties and private equity firms. These discussions are now viewed as distracting for management, sources briefed on the situation said.

One of them said the board has backed both Lazaridis and Balsillie, but is of the view RIM needs to develop a "deeper bench" of executives.

Spurred by RIM's share drop and Google Inc's $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc in August, Wall Street bankers have tried to pitch RIM to other mobile phone makers, including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and HTC Corp, in recent months.

But HTC and Samsung already have licensing agreements with Google's Android and did not see the value in tying up with BlackBerry, people familiar with the companies said. Samsung and HTC declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim in New York and Alastair Sharp in Toronto; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Paritosh Bansal and Andre Grenon)

Republicans under pressure over payroll tax cut

2011-12-21T08:39:00.002-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans were under growing pressure on Wednesday to agree to a 60-day extension of an expiring payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and end a stand-off with Democrats that threatens to undercut a fragile economic recovery.

If the Congress cannot reach a deal by December 31, the payroll tax American workers pay to fund the Social Security federal retirement program will rise immediately to 6.2 percent, from 4.2 percent.

Many economists and the White House warn that U.S. economic growth will suffer in 2012 as most workers would be hit with an effective $1,000-a-year tax hike.

The Republican-led House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut that had been passed overwhelmingly by their colleagues and Democrats in the Senate, and demanded fresh negotiations on the issue.

Senate Democrats, sensing they have a political advantage on the issue, are refusing to reopen negotiations and most have already left town for the holidays

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which has often disagreed vehemently with President Barack Obama's economic policies, gave Republicans a scathing critique of their handling of the payroll tax cut issue, saying they "achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter."

The editorial urged Republicans "to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly."
The Wall Street editorial page often gives insight into the thinking of the nation's leading conservatives in business and politics. Wednesday's editorial, headlined "The GOP's Payroll Tax Fiasco" suggests widespread anxiety among conservatives over the House Republican tactics.
A number of Republican senators have also blasted their House colleagues over their handling of the issue.

Republican Senator Scott Brown said: "House Republicans would rather continue playing politics than find solutions" and added that their actions would damage a fragile economy.

Veteran Republican Senator Charles Grassley, in an interview with Iowa radio station WHO, said, "I'm not going to argue with the House of Representatives, but do they want taxes to go up on January first or don't they?"

'GET SENATE MEMBERS OVER HERE'

But House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and the No. 2 Republican in the House Eric Cantor, stood firm on Wednesday, demanding that Democrats re-enter negotiations to extend the payroll tax cut for a year.

"All we're asking for is to get the Senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do: extend the payroll tax credit for the next year," Boehner told reporters.
The House Republican leaders argue that the two-month extension creates uncertainty for workers and employers and is unworkable.
The Republican stance on the one-year extension is an about-face from their original position on the issue. Just days ago, many House Republicans were speaking out against the extension and questioning its stimulative impact on the economy.
They softened their position after Republican leaders warned of a voter backlash in 2012 if the party was seen to be raising taxes on working Americans.
Cantor on Wednesday called on Obama to get directly involved in the talks to resolve the dispute. The president so far has preferred to keep his distance and instead has been using the bully pulpit of his office to press Republicans to agree to the Senate deal.
The showdown has the potential to deliver a political lift to Obama and his Democrats at the expense of Republicans who want to make 2012 a referendum on Obama's handling of the economy.
White House chief economist Alan Krueger warned that the U.S. economy would suffer if the payroll tax-cut is not extended.
"Many economists have boosted their forecasts of economic growth for next year on the assumption that the payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits will stay in effect," Krueger will say in a speech to be delivered in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday.
One business group, the International Franchise Association, on Tuesday said that a failure to extend the worker tax cut could jeopardize the creation of 168,000 new jobs in 2012.
With members ranging from restaurants and hotels to automobile service companies and health clubs, the association said its members' businesses are "deeply reliant on consumer spending." A slowdown in spending, it said, would ruin expansion plans.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Paul Eckert; Editing by Ross Colvin and Vicki Allen)

Government plans to cut solar subsidies "legally flawed"

2011-12-21T08:39:00.000-08:00

LONDON (Reuters) - The government plans to cut to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes were ruled legally flawed by the High Court on Wednesday, the Press Association reported.

The decision was a victory for environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth (FoE) and two solar companies, Solar Century and HomeSun, who challenged the proposals and said they were creating "huge economic uncertainty."

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne wants to cut feed-in tariff subsidies (FITs) -- payments made to households and communities that generate green electricity through solar panels -- on any installations completed after December 12 this year.

But Mr Justice Mitting, sitting in London, said the minister was "proposing to make an unlawful decision."

Cocaine curves model caught at Rome airport

2011-12-21T08:38:00.001-08:00

Italian airport police eyeing up a busty Spanish model's curves made a startling discovery on Wednesday -- 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of pure cocaine stashed as implants in her bust and backside.

The 33-year-old woman arriving in Rome from Sao Paulo in Brazil was wearing tight-fitting clothes to enhance her voluptuousness, hoping that her looks might distract the attention of border police, ANSA news agency reported.

The report said the woman drew suspicion however after giving unclear answers to questions about the reasons for her trip to Italy to an officer. The discovery was made when two female investigators conducted a strip search.

Smuggling methods through Rome's Fiumicino airport have become ever more ingenious, including cocaine found hidden inside baggage trolleys last year.

In June, police arrested traffickers who were smuggling 220 kilograms of cocaine hidden in crates of chalk statues shipped through Fiumicino.

$150 billion award for Texas fire victim's family

2011-12-21T08:37:00.001-08:00

LA GRANGE, Texas (AP) — An attorney says a Texas jury has awarded the largest verdict he has ever heard of — $150 billion to the family of a man who died 12 years after being set afire as an 8-year-old.

Craig Sico says the punitive damage award is symbolic and the family expects none of it will be paid.

The defendant, Don Wilburn Collins, is currently imprisoned on an unrelated sexual assault charge. He was never charged and denies involvement in the 2010 death of 20-year-old Robbie Middleton.

Sico says he asked jurors to make a statement by topping the $145 billion Florida verdict against tobacco companies in 2000.

Neither Collins nor any attorney appeared for him at the civil trial. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Exclusive: North Korea's military to share power with Kim's heir

2011-12-21T08:36:00.001-08:00

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.

The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after World War Two.

The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.

The comments are the first signal that North Korea is following a course that many analysts have anticipated -- it will be governed by a group of people for the first time since it was founded in 1948.

Both Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung were all-powerful, authoritarian rulers of the isolated state.

The situation in North Korea appeared stable after the military gave its backing to Kim Jong-un, the source said.

"It's very unlikely," the source said when asked about the possibility of a military coup. "The military has pledged allegiance to Kim Jong-un."

North Korea's collective leadership will include Kim Jong-un, his uncle and the military, the source said.

Jang Song-thaek, 65, brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il and the younger Kim's uncle, is seen as the power behind the throne along with his wife Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il's sister. So too is Ri Yong-ho, the rising star of the North's military and currently its most senior general.

The younger Kim, who is in his late 20s, has his own supporters but is not strong enough to consolidate power, analysts said.

"I know that he's been able to build a group of supporters around himself who are of his generation," said Koh Yu-hwan, president of the Korean Association of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"So it is not entirely elders in their 70s, plus some like Jang in their 60s, who are backing him. These young backers will be emerging fairly soon."

Koh said the coterie was put in place by Kim Jong-il before he died. "The relative calm seen these few days shows it's been effective. If things were not running smoothly, then we'd have seen a longer period of 'rule by mummy', with Kim Jong-il being faked as still being alive."

He said the younger Kim would accept the set-up, for now. "Considering the tradition of strongarm rule by his father and grandfather, things can't be easy for him," he said.

"REGIME SURVIVAL"

Ralph Cossa, an authority on North Korea and president of the U.S. think tank Pacific Forum CSIS, said it made sense that the ruling group would stick together.

"All have a vested interest in regime survival," he said. "Their own personal safety and survival is inextricably tied to regime survival and Kim Jong-un is the manifestation of this. I think the regime will remain stable, at least in the near-term."

He added in a commentary that the new group may be inclined to reform, but stressed this was far from confirmed.

"Over the long term, there appears to be some hope, primarily emanating from Beijing, that Kim Jong-un will take North Korea down the path of Chinese-style reform, apparently based on the belief that Jang is or will be a 'reformer'."

"Who knows, this may be true. While this could relieve the suffering of the North Korean people over time, it will do little to promote the cause of denuclearization, however."

The high-level source also said North Korea test-fired a missile on Monday to warn the United States not to make any moves against it. Pyongyang however had no immediate plans for further tests, barring an escalation of tensions.

"With the missile test, (North) Korea wanted to deliver the message that they have the ability to protect themselves," the source said.

"But (North) Korea is unlikely to conduct a nuclear test in the near future unless provoked" by the United States and South Korea, the source said.

The unpredictable North's nuclear program has been a nagging source of tension for the international community.

Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and has quit six-party talks with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia on abandoning its nuclear program and returning to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The high-level source also said Beijing was only notified of Kim's death earlier on Monday, the same day North Korean state television broadcast the news. Kim died on Saturday.

A leading South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday China learned of Kim's death soon after it occurred.

China has given no official comment or even hints suggesting it was told of Kim's death before the public announcement.

Beijing, the North's closest ally and biggest provider of aid, has pulled out the stops to support the younger Kim.

The government has invited him to visit and, in an unusual gesture, President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping also visited the hermit state's embassy in Beijing to express their condolences. Roads leading to the embassy were blocked.

Mainly, the prospect of instability on its northeastern border worries China and it sees the younger Kim and his coterie as the best prospect for keeping North Korea on an even keel.

North Korea has been pressed by China to denuclearize and is willing to do so on condition that North and South Korea, the United States and China sign an armistice replacing a 1953 ceasefire agreement, the source said.

The two Koreas have been divided for decades and remain technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice but no peace agreement. The United States backed the South, while China supported the North in that conflict.

Pyongyang is also convinced there are U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea and demands Washington pull them out, the source said.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jonathan Thatcher)

Wall St slides on euro zone deal doubts, Intel view

2011-12-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Worries about the deal worked out at Friday's European summit plagued sentiment, and a lowered revenue outlook by Intel, the world's largest chip maker, also took a toll.

Fitch Ratings on Monday said failure by European Union leaders to come up with a "comprehensive" solution to the region's debt crisis has increased short-term pressure on debt ratings of euro zone countries.

The decline was broad, with all l0 S&P industry groups in negative territory.
Intel Corp was the Dow's biggest decliner, falling 4.8 percent to $23.81, after the company cut its fourth-quarter revenue forecast due to supply shortages of hard disk drives.
An index of semiconductor makers <.SOX> fell 3.4 percent.

U.S. banks were among the worst performers on renewed concern that problems in Europe's financial system could spill over to U.S. institutions.

The S&P financial sector <.GSPF> was down 3 percent. Bank of America Corp fell 4.9 percent to $5.44, and JPMorgan Chase & Co lost 3.9 percent to $31.88.

"The pact that was agreed upon by European officials still has a long way to go in order to come to fruition, and that leaves the market open to riot," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

"We're seeing that sentiment surface in Italian bond yields, and that suggest the market is still highly skeptical of any solution to the risk of significant default that could be brought forward in the coming days."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 233.41 points, or 1.92 percent, at 11,950.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 26.34 points, or 2.10 percent, at 1,228.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 49.72 points, or 1.88 percent, at 2,597.13.

Italian one-year borrowing costs stayed close to a record high at an auction. Yields on 10-year Italian bonds briefly threatened the 7 percent level, which is considerable a danger zone. An index of European equities <.FTEU3> closed down about 1.9 percent.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's reminded markets on Monday that the deal reached last week was not enough to diminish the chance of sovereign ratings downgrades in the euro zone in the near- to mid-term. Last week, S&P put 15 euro zone countries on a watch for potential credit rating downgrades.

Last week, the European Union decided to set stricter budget rules for the single currency area and to provide up to 200 billion euros in bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund in response to the turmoil.

Resource-related stocks also tumbled as U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.7 percent and copper prices dropped 2.8 percent to a near two-week low on deepening concern over Europe.

Alcoa Inc was off 3.8 percent to $9.27, and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc dropped 4.1 percent to $38.10.

Girl Posted on Facebook During 7-Hour Welfare-Office Standoff

2011-12-08T13:37:00.001-08:00

A 12-year-old girl whose mother shot and critically wounded her before killing herself made several cryptic posts on Facebook during a nearly seven-hour hostage ordeal at the Texas Department of Health and Human Services office in Laredo.

"May die 2day," Ramie Marie Grimmer wrote on Facebook at 7:50 p.m. during the Monday night standoff.

"i'm here for you guys. No reason to be afraid," Nancy Harrop, who the girl listed as her grandmother, replied.

"Im bored," came at 10:34 p.m.

Eighteen minutes later: "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhh."

And finally, at 11:28 p.m.: "tear gas ..."

Rachelle Grimmer, 38, pulled a gun on the welfare office supervisor, Roberto Reyes, and her two children out of her frustration at being denied food stamps. The office's other employees were able to safely evacuate the building, according to the San Antonio Express.

A SWAT team surrounded the building, and officers communicated with Grimmer throughout the ordeal.

But at midnight -- shortly after Grimmer hung up on police -- three shots were fired, causing the police to storm the building.

Rachelle Grimmer was pronounced dead at the scene, while Ramie and her brother, Timothy, 10, suffered critical head wounds and were transported to University Hospital in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Express.

Grimmer's outburst was reportedly triggered after years of getting rejected for state assistance in various states, the newspaper reported.The family had recently moved to Texas from Ohio.

Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, told ABCNews.com that Grimmer hadn't been rejected. She had just received a notice that her case was closed, since she did not provide all of the necessary documentation during the department's 30-day time frame.

"She absolutely could have applied again," Goodman said.

Neighbors said the Grimmers lived in a trailer about 6½ feet wide and 16 feet long.

"The children went barefoot to accompany her. They went four times, and four times she was denied. She was desperate, because she had nothing to feed her children," neighbor Oscar Luis Cuellar told the Laredo Sun. Goodman said employees at the Laredo office were struggling to cope in the aftermath of the shooting.

"They're very badly shaken. They go into this business because they want to help people," she said. "Even though it was processed according to our procedures, it does not comfort them at all."

Eurozone crisis: Talks to save euro begin in Brussels

2011-12-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

Chancellor Merkel says the credibility of the euro must be restored EU leaders in Brussels have opened a summit to tackle the eurozone debt crisis and save the single currency.

The key item on the agenda is a Franco-German proposal on budgetary discipline, with automatic penalties for eurozone nations that overspend.
Pre-summit talks between Britain, France and Germany broke up without agreement as each set out its position.
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the euro had "lost credibility".
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will veto anything which harms British interests.
Mr Cameron, Chancellor Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy held a 45-minute meeting on the eve of the summit, but sources told the BBC there was "no movement" with each side setting out their respective ground.
Downing Street sources said the negotiations were "going to be difficult" and they did not expect any wider agreement among EU leaders until the early hours of the morning, if that, the BBC's Iain Watson, in Brussels, reports.

Germany and France seem to be coming into this summit saying: "Here's the deal - take it or leave it." Germany in particular is becoming Europe's most important political power, as well as its most important economic one - and that is causing some unease.
But President Sarkozy defended Franco-German leadership and - using dramatic language - said memories of brutality between them during World War Two mean they have a special duty to act.
The trouble is the European Union is much bigger than it was. Every country - all 27 of them - has a red line somewhere. That is why reaching an agreement is going to be so difficult.
But Angela Merkel has made it clear that she wants a treaty change of some kind. She would prefer all member states to be involved, but at the very least the 17 countries in the eurozone have to act.
Beyond the battle over treaty change there is a bigger picture for the leaders gathered here. Can they find more financial firepower to help member states with huge debts? And can they persuade the markets that struggling countries are serious about years of austerity?
In other words, can they do enough to ensure that the eurozone survives.

In a speech in Marseille earlier on Thursday President Sarkozy warned that "never has the risk of disintegration been greater" for Europe.

The leaders of the 27 EU nations were sitting down for an informal dinner, and their talks - behind closed doors - were expected to last well into the night, ahead of a number of working sessions on Friday.
Penalties Germany and France are pushing for changes to the EU treaty, saying stricter fiscal rules should be made part of basic EU law.
The Franco-German plan is based on the following key provisions:

the European Commission to have the power to impose penalties for nations that run excessive budget deficits
all 17 eurozone nations should amend their national legislation to require balanced budgets
the eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes
any future bailouts would not require private investors to absorb part of the costs, as happened in the case of Greece

As Mrs Merkel arrived at the summit venue in Brussels, she told journalists: "The euro has lost credibility and that needs to be restored."
She said the European Commission and the European Court of Justice would have more powers in future to enforce the rules, declaring: "We must make clear that we accept more co-ordination."
"Never has Europe been so necessary. Never has it been in so much danger," said Mr Sarkozy at a meeting of EU centre-right leaders in Marseille.
He said the eurozone economies still had a few weeks to decide, but that time was working against them.
Earlier on Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates back to their historic low of 1%, as expected by financial markets. Mario Draghi ECB President

ECB President Mario Draghi called again for governments to cut their borrowing and reform their economies, but did not mention any new financial support from the ECB for struggling governments.

"We have a treaty that says no monetary financing to governments," he told reporters.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has put forward an alternative plan, a fast-track "fiscal compact" that does not need lengthy ratification by parliaments or national referendums.
The EU's most recent treaty, adopted in Lisbon in 2007, took eight years to negotiate.
But Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt warned that changing the treaty would take time and trigger the need for a referendum.
In recent days, smaller EU nations have complained they are being forced to follow the agenda of Germany and France, with very little room for discussion, says the BBC's Chris Morris, in Brussels.
An advisory committee to the Finnish parliament has warned that the Franco-German plan may be unconstitutional because it replaces the majority veto on the fund for future bailouts with majority voting.

Stocks drop as ECB rules out eurozone support

2011-12-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

Mr Draghi played down the chance of the ECB increasing its support for Italy

Stocks have fallen after the European Central Bank ruled out any substantial aid for any ailing and indebted eurozone states.

Stocks in France and Italy - two countries vulnerable to downgrades - ended down 2.5% and 4.3% respectively.
ECB President Mario Draghi unveiled new support measures for eurozone banks, but played down the prospect of any new financial support for governments.
The central bank cut interest rates to their historic low of 1%, as expected.
The main US share index, the Dow Jones, was down 1% in morning trading on Wall Street. Germany's Dax finished 2% lower.
There had been speculation that the ECB may be preparing to bail out Italy if eurozone governments agree tough new limits on their borrowing and economic reforms.
But Mr Draghi seemingly ruled this out: "We have a treaty that says no monetary financing to governments."
The euro, which had risen following the announcement of the interest rate cut, fell more than a cent against the dollar while Mr Draghi was speaking.

The moves come ahead of a "do-or-die" Brussels summit of European Union heads to hammer out a deal on how to tackle the eurozone debt crisis, including a potential new treaty.

The two-day EU summit ending is expected to agree tough new rules and automatic fines to ensure that eurozone governments cut their borrowing to below 3% of their GDP.
This week, Standard and Poor's put almost all eurozone countries on "credit watch". It means that six countries with top AAA ratings - including Germany and France - have a 50% chance of seeing their credit ratings downgraded.
New bank aid
Mr Draghi called again for governments to cut their borrowing, and to boost growth by making their labour markets more flexible, and opening up product markets to more competition.

Euro v US Dollar

Last Updated at 08 Dec 2011, 17:56 GMT *Chart shows local time

€1 buys	change	%
1.3334	- -0.01	- -0.58

However, Mr Draghi dismissed the prospect of a eurozone break-up as "quite far-fetched at this stage".

He also praised the efforts of the new Italian government.
Mr Draghi also announced further measures to support the eurozone's banks, including:

three-year loans to be available from 21 December
more generous minimum standards for what the ECB will accept as collateral on the loans it makes
a cut in the reserve ratio - the percentage of a bank's assets that must be held in cash at the central bank - from 2% to 1%.

The ECB president explained the measures were intended to head off a credit crunch affecting companies and mortgage borrowers.
Some banks have increasingly been relying on existing emergency loans from the ECB, as they find it harder to borrow money from markets.
Last week, the ECB joined with the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and three other major central banks in announcing an agreement that would ensure that their banks had access to foreign currency emergency loans.
The surprise move sparked speculation that one or more major European banks could be on the point of collapse, because of their inability to borrow in US dollars.
Rate cuts
The central bank again cut its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone next year, to a range of 1% growth to a 0.4% contraction - raising the prospect of a recession.

How is the European Central Bank helping the banks?

The lower forecast may herald further interest rate cuts.
It is the second such rate cut since Mr Draghi took over the ECB presidency last month.
The first rate cut, only days after he took over, reversed the central bank's policy direction. Under his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB had begun raising rates over the summer to ward off higher inflation.
The second cut has returned rates to the record low 1% level that prevailed from the summer of 2009 to the end of 2010, in response to the global financial crisis and recession.
Mr Draghi confirmed that the decision was not made unanimously.
The ECB gas been providing some support to Italy and Spain, by buying up their debts in the financial markets to push down the cost of borrowing.
Italy's 10-year cost of borrowing had risen above the 7% level widely deemed to be unsustainably expensive, but fell back below 6% in recent days, in expectation of ECB aid.
Following Mr Draghi's press conference, it rose back above 6%.

Home market being held back by wary first-timers

2011-12-08T08:42:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — This should be a great time to buy a first home. Prices have sunk to 2002 levels. Sellers are waiting anxiously as homes languish on the market. Mortgage rates are their lowest ever.

Yet the most likely first-time homeowners, especially young professionals and couples starting families, won't buy these days. Or they can't. Or they already did, during the housing boom. And their absence helps explain why the housing industry is still depressed.

The obstacles range from higher down payments to heavy debt from credit cards and student loans. But even many of those who could afford to buy no longer see it as a wise investment. Prices have sunk 15 percent in three years.

"I've looked for a home, but the places we can afford with the money we have are not that great," says Seth Herter, 23, a store manager in suburban St. Louis. "It also doesn't seem smart anymore to buy with prices falling. Buying a home just doesn't make sense to us."

The proportion of U.S. households that own homes is at 65.1 percent, its lowest point since 1996, the Census Bureau says. That marks a shift after nearly two decades in which homeownership grew before peaking at 70 percent during the housing boom.

The housing bubble lured so many young buyers that it reduced the pool of potential first-timers to below-normal levels. That's contributed to the decline in new buyers in recent years.

In 2005, at the height of the boom, about 2.8 million first-timers bought homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. By contrast, for each of the four years preceding the boom, the number of first-timers averaged fewer than 2 million.

Still, the bigger factors are the struggling economy, shaky job security, tougher credit rules and lack of cash to put down, said Dan McCue, research manager at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. The unemployment rate among typical first-timers, those ages 25 to 34, is 9.8 percent, compared with 9 percent for all adults.

"The obstacles facing first-time buyers are big, and it's changing the way they look at home ownership," McCue says. "It's no longer the American Dream for the younger generation."

First-timers usually account for up to half of all sales. Over the past year, they've accounted for only about a third.

A big reason is tougher lending standards.

Lenders are demanding more money up front. In 2002, the median down payment for a single-family home in nine major U.S. cities was 4 percent, according to real estate website Zillow.com. Today, it's 22 percent.

And one-third of households have credit scores too low to qualify for a mortgage. The median required credit score from FICO Inc., the industry leader in credit ratings, has risen from 720 in 2007, when the market went bust, to 760 today.

Homes in many places are the most affordable in a generation. In the past year, the national median sale price has sunk 3.5 percent. Half the homes listed in the Tampa Bay area are priced below $100,000.

The average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan is 4 percent, barely above an all-time low. Five years ago, it was near 6.5 percent. In 2000, it exceeded 8 percent.

When the economy eventually strengthens, the housing market will, too. More people will be hired. Confidence will rise. Down payments won't be so hard to produce.

The question is whether first-time buyers will then start flowing into the housing market. That will depend mainly on whether they think prices will rise, said Mark Vitner, senior U.S. economist at Wells Fargo.

"It's a guessing game as to when things will turn around," Vitner said. "But until they do, you won't see young people buying homes."

Corzine sorry, puzzled by missing MF Global money

2011-12-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former MF Global chief Jon Corzine apologized to customers, employees and investors who have suffered because of the brokerage firm's collapse, but said he does not know where missing customer money is.

"Their plight weighs on my mind every day -- every hour," Corzine, a former U.S. senator, said in 21 pages of remarks prepared for delivery on Thursday before the House Agriculture Committee.
"I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date," he said.

Corzine's contrite but defensive remarks are his first since MF Global's October 31 bankruptcy and his resignation days later. Revelations of massive bets on European sovereign debt caused markets to lose confidence in the firm.

The search for hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer funds has sent reverberations through the farm belt and trading floors, and has attracted the attention of the FBI and federal prosecutors. Thousands of customers have had their money frozen.

"It appears to me that nobody has learned a thing from what's gone on here. Wall Street is operating as if 2008 never happened," said Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the Committee, referring to the recent financial crisis.
In separate testimony, a top executive of futures exchange operator CME Group Inc said MF Global misused hundreds of millions of dollars of customer funds by moving the money to its own accounts, the strongest accusation yet against the bankrupt futures brokerage.

"Transfers of customer funds for the benefit of the firm constitute serious violations of our rules and of the Commodity Exchange Act," CME Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy said in prepared remarks.

CME, the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator, was a hands-on regulator of MF Global. Duffy said the brokerage admitted during a call with regulators that customer money was transferred out of segregation to the firm's own accounts.
The court-appointed trustee has estimated the shortfall of customer money at $1.2 billion, but CME has disputed that figure as being too high. In his prepared testimony, Duffy indicated the shortfall was roughly half that amount.
Neither MF Global nor any of its executives has been charged with wrongdoing.
"STUNNED" BY MISSING CUSTOMER MONEY
Nine witnesses are scheduled at the hearing, but Corzine, a senator from 2001-2006 and a former governor of New Jersey, is the star.
Corzine, due to testify later in the day, arrived just before the hearing started with little fanfare. Capitol Hill Police quickly escorted Corzine to the committee's holding room where he was expected to monitor the first panel.
There were no active protesters, although people lined up hours before to get into the cramped hearing room.
Corzine said in his testimony that while it is difficult for him to reconstruct the chaotic events leading up to the bankruptcy because he no longer has access to relevant documents, he feels compelled to answer lawmaker questions.
"As a former United States Senator who recognizes the importance of congressional oversight, and recognizing my position as former chief executive officer in these terrible circumstances, I believe it is appropriate that I attempt to respond to your inquiries," Corzine said.
In his testimony, Corzine distanced himself from some hands-on aspects of the firm's business practices.
"Even when I was at MF Global, my involvement in the firm's clearing, settlement and payment mechanisms and accounting was limited," Corzine said.
"I was stunned when I was told on Sunday, October 30, 2011, that MF Global could not account for many hundreds of millions of dollars of client money."
He said he accepts responsibility for the repo-to-maturity trades that related to the firm's $6.3 billion bet on European sovereign debt.
"At the time that MF Global entered into the transactions, I believed that its investments in short-term European debt securities were prudent," he said.

However, he said MF Global reduced leverage during his tenure, and said he does "not claim to be an accountant" regarding the treatment of that exposure.

Mary Schapiro, the chairman of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has said her agency is probing the accounting treatment that helped mask MF Global's exposure to risky foreign sovereign debt. The SEC is also probing the disclosure of that exposure.

Steve Luparello, vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, said in his testimony on Thursday that MF Global was not fully candid with FINRA in 2010 when the firm was asked about its exposure to European debt.

Luparello said the firm indicated in late September 2010 that it "did not have any such positions" in European sovereign debt.

"We later learned that the firm began entering into transactions that carried European debt exposure in mid-September 2010," he said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Christopher Doering, Rachelle Younglai and Philip Shishkin in Washington and Ann Saphir in Chicago, writing by Karey Wutkowski; editing by John Wallace, Dave Zimmerman)

Mysterious planet-sized object spotted near mercury

2011-12-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

A mysterious object is seen following in Mercury's path

Is a giant, cloaked spaceship orbiting around Mercury? That's been the speculation from some corners aftera camera onboard NASA's STEREO spacecraft caught a wave of electronically charged material shooting out from the sun and hitting Mercury.
Theorists have seized on the images captured from the "coronal mass ejection" (CME) last week as suggestive of alien life hanging out in our own cosmic backyard. Specifically, the solar flare washing over Mercury appears to hit another object of comparable size. "It's cylindrical on either side and has a shape in the middle. It definitely looks like a ship to me, and very obviously, it's cloaked," YouTube-user siniXster said in his video commentary on the footage, which has generated hundreds of thousands of views this week. Now, how this user was able to determine that the object was "obviously" a cloaked spaceship with no other natural explanation remains as much a mystery as the object itself.
Of course, there's another scientifically sanctioned explanation for the curious images, though we're not certain that skeptics and UFO enthusiasts such as SiniXster will endorse it. Natalie Wolchover of Life's Little Mysteries put the question to scientists in the solar physics branch at the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). They're the people who analyze data from the Heliospheric Imager-1 (HI-1)--better known in this context as the camera that shot the footage in question.

Head NRL group scientist Russ Howard and lead ground systems engineer Nathan Rich say the mysterious object is in fact Mercury itself. And what we're seeing in the footage is the equivalent of Mercury's wake, "where the planet was on the previous day," as it travels through the solar system on its natural gravitational path:

To make the relatively faint glow of a coronal mass ejection stand out against the bright glare of space—caused by interplanetary dust and the stellar/galactic background—the NRL scientists must remove as much background light as possible. They explained that they determine what light is background light, and thus can be subtracted out, by calculating the average amount of light that entered each camera pixel on the day of the CME event and on the previous day. Light appearing in the pixels on both days is considered to be background light and is removed from the footage of the CME. The remaining light is then enhanced.

The analysts say the practice works even better when applied to far-off objects such as stars, which don't move much relative to the sun. But for moving objects, especially planets, the process is a little more complicated. And making matters even trickier is Mercury's staus as the closest planet to the sun.
"When [this averaging process] is done between the previous day and the current day and there is a feature like a planet, this introduces dark (negative) artifacts in the background where the planet was on the previous day, which then show up as bright areas in the enhanced image," Rich explained in an email.

Una revista india desafía con erótica al espionaje paquistaní

2011-12-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Nueva Delhi/Islamabad, 3 dic (EFE).- Aunque no se sabe si está manipulada, la foto de una actriz paquistaní sin ropa, con las siglas del espionaje de su país (ISI) escrita en un brazo, en la portada de una revista india, está incendiando la opinión pública del sur Asia, aún poco hecha al desnudo.
La polémica y sensual Veena Malik asegura que la imagen ha sido alterada, y amenaza con demandar a la revista para hombres que la publicará en portada el próximo lunes.
La publicación FHM India, en cambio, dice tener vídeos y otras fotografías que prueban que no ha habido manipulación alguna.
La revista adelantó este viernes en su versión de internet la portada del mes de diciembre, con Malik y las iniciales, y al instante la instantánea corrió como un reguero de pólvora por las redes sociales y desató un mar de turbulentas reacciones.
En la foto, la artista cubre sus pechos con los brazos y está ligeramente de perfil con una pierna flexionada, por lo que no es visible su pubis, pero es el hecho de llevar en el brazo las siglas del servicio secreto lo que ha añadido más morbo a la polémica.
"Esta mujer está completamente loca", tuiteó una rival, la actriz paquistaní Meera, nada más ver la portada, mientras los más lanzados se amparaban en el anonimato para llenar de improperios las secciones de comentarios.
La India y Pakistán comparten una difícil vecindad, como lo demuestran las guerras libradas por ambos países desde su independencia, en 1947, y las autoridades indias suelen acusar al ISI de apoyar a grupos terroristas y dañar sus intereses.
El agente de la actriz, Sohail Rashid, declaró a Efe desde Lahore que creía que la fotografía era "falsa", y poco después la propia actriz afirmó a la alarmada prensa paquistaní que había posado con "ropa moderna" y no "desnuda", según el rotativo Express.
"Conozco mis límites", dijo.
También añadió en aparente contradicción que, de común acuerdo con la publicación, los tatuajes del ISI serían sobrescritos en las fotos, una versión diferente de la que dio a Efe el editor de FHM, Naveer Sharma, sorprendido por la controversia.
"(Las letras) no son exactamente un tatuaje, sino que se las dibujamos. La propia Veena dijo que eran demasiado pequeñas", reveló el editor, que dijo contar con un vídeo que prueba la sesión, aunque este no será publicado por razones "deontológicas".
Para Malik llueve sobre mojado: ya escandalizó a indios y paquistaníes con su desenvuelta participación en una edición de la versión india del programa "Gran Hermano", en la que se dedicó a dar masajes y besuquear a sus colegas masculinos.
Tanto en la India como en Pakistán sigue siendo un tabú dar en público muestras de afecto amoroso o sexual, y los aficionados a la pornografía -prohibida en ambos países- deben bucear en secreto por la red o acudir al estraperlo en algún mercadillo de baja estofa.
Los diarios del subcontinente de hoy dividen su atención: algunos llevan la noticia a la portada y otros ni la mencionan, pero la principal incógnita continúa siendo cuál será la reacción de los radicales en uno y otro país, beligerantes en cuestiones de sexo.
En Pakistán, los islamistas, que ya habían amenazado a la actriz en el pasado, han puesto el grito en el cielo y llenado internet de comentarios despectivos, y en la India hay grupos hindúes con un amplio historial de acciones contra la "ligereza en las costumbres".
"Puede que haya problemas con los sectores conservadores, sinceramente no lo sé. Pero lo que la gente tiene que pensar es que ella es una mujer muy guapa, y que no tiene que pedir disculpas por ser guapa", sugirió el editor de FHM India.
FHM, que cuenta con una tirada de 110.000 ejemplares, saldrá a las calles el lunes, y será entonces cuando se pondrá de manifiesto si el fenómeno Malik pasa a la calle o se queda en las casas de los "hombres inteligentes" para los que Sharma dice concebir su revista.
Quizá el hecho de no mostrar pechos o entrepierna es lo que ha salvado hasta ahora a Malik del censor indio, algo menos rígido que en Pakistán, donde las tijeras llegan a tapar partes íntimas de las obras de arte que publica la prensa internacional.
En noviembre, la Autoridad de Telecomunicaciones de Pakistán amagó con filtrar más de 1.500 palabras consideradas escandalosas para que no pudieran enviarse por mensajes de móvil, entre ellas algunas sorprendentes, como "Jesucristo", "amante" o "mono".
La medida finalmente no se aplicó pero sirvió para que, como esta vez, una mitad de Pakistán y la India se eche las manos a la cabeza y la otra, en privado, tenga un pretexto para sus conversaciones distendidas y pasar el rato.

Debt Collector In Dominican Republic

Por Diego Agúndez y Agus Morales
Fotografía facilitada por la revista FHM India que muestra la imagen desnuda de la actriz paquistaní Veena Malik, con las siglas de los servicios secretos de su país (ISI) tatuadas en un brazo, portada que ha incendiado la opinión pública, tanto por su contenido erótico como por la provocación política que constituye la foto en el contexto de las difíciles relaciones entre India y Pakistán. EFE

Facebook bug sees Zuckerberg pictures posted online

2011-12-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Pictures showed Mr Zuckerberg and his girlfriend cooking

A series of private pictures of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have been posted online by "hackers" to highlight a bug in the social network.

In total 14 pictures of Mr Zuckerberg were posted to image site Imgur under the headline: "It's time to fix those security flaws Facebook".
The bug related to tools designed to allow users to report inappropriate images.
Facebook said that it had fixed the glitch.
Privacy

Mr Zuckerberg and... a chicken

"Earlier today, we discovered a bug in one of our reporting flows that allows people to report multiple instances of inappropriate content simultaneously," the firm said in a statement.
"The bug allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user's most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for these photos.
"This was the result of one of our recent code pushes and was live for a limited period of time. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed," the statement read.
The BBC asked Facebook's permission before publishing the photographs of Mr Zuckerberg. The firm said that as the pictures were now in the public domain it would not be pursuing copyright infringement claims.
Loophole The bug was discovered by members of a bodybuilding forum who went on to post step-by-step instructions on how to view private photos.
When users reported a public profile picture of someone as inappropriate, they were invited by Facebook to view more of the person's pictures to look for similar content. The thumbnails shown to them were easy to enlarge and download.
The "hackers" used the loophole to break into Mr Zuckerberg's pages, as the most high profile member of Facebook's 850 million users.
The images of Mr Zuckerberg included shots of him preparing food with his girlfriend, holding a chicken by the leg and meeting US President Barack Obama.
The embarrassing incident comes a week after the Federal Trade Commission slammed changes made to Facebook's privacy settings two years ago. It accused the social network of deceptive practices and demanded it subject itself to regular audits over the next 20 years.

Industrial output in Italy and Germany diverge

2011-12-07T10:12:00.002-08:00

Italian factories are having a tough time

Industrial production in Italy and Germany diverged more than expected in October, figures show.

While factory output in Italy fell 0.9% versus a month earlier, in Germany it rose 0.8%. Analysts had expected more moderate change in both cases.
The German figure marked a moderate rebound from a 3.8% cumulative fall over the previous two months.
But the German economy ministry said that the outlook remained muted for the coming months.
The turnaround was driven by demand for durable consumer goods and capital goods for industry, both of which can be volatile and react strongly to changes in the economy.
The production figures follow data on Tuesday that showed industrial orders in Germany rose 5.2% in October.
Separate figures in the UK showed industrial output fell 0.7% in October, the fastest fall for six months.
Eurozone crisis The latest output data adds to a widening gap between Germany and Italy over the past year.
German industrial output in October was up 4.1% versus a year ago, whereas in Italy it was down 4.2%.
The Italian economy is widely expected to shrink in the fourth quarter of the year due to the uncertainties and borrowing problems created by the eurozone debt crisis.
"[The October data] is weaker that we expected," said Chiara Corsa, economist at Unicredit, Italy's biggest bank.
"[It] confirms our idea that output and gross domestic product will both fall in [the fourth quarter], even if there is a rebound in output in November as we expect after two steep monthly declines."

Eurozone: France and Germany urge common taxes

2011-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Franco-German alliance is going at full throttle ahead of the summit

The leaders of France and Germany have called jointly for eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes.

The tax policy would apply initially to the 17-member eurozone. France has long complained about Ireland's low corporation tax rate of 12.5%.
The proposal came in a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, on the eve of a key EU summit.
Both countries want changes to the EU treaties to enforce budget discipline.
The push for EU tax harmonisation is highly controversial. The UK especially has for years resisted moves towards tax harmonisation in the 27-nation bloc.
Safeguards "We must strengthen growth through competitiveness and convergence of the economic policies of eurozone members at least," said the letter from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

There are elements in there to upset almost everyone. Britain certainly won't sign up to any financial transaction tax. Ireland jealously guards its low corporate tax rate. There are obstacles at every turn.
Even France and Germany have disagreements, but they still want a deal involving all 27 member states. If they can't get one, they plan to proceed with the 17 members of the eurozone, and any other country which wants to join them.
So the intricacies of treaty change will loom large over this summit, but there is also a bigger picture. The EU needs to rebuild market confidence around the eurozone, and offer better protection to countries like Italy which have huge debts.
That means more work on creating a financial firewall to shield countries in trouble, and it means making sure that member states who have announced savage austerity programmes actually implement them. Without all of that, the eurozone will remain in real peril.

It called for "a new common legal framework fully compatible with the internal market", covering:

financial regulation;
the labour market;
convergence and harmonisation of the corporation tax base and introduction of a financial transaction tax;
policies that support growth and a better use of European funds within the eurozone.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday that he would seek safeguards for London's powerful financial sector at Friday's summit in Brussels.

Crisis jargon buster

Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:

AAA-rating

The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.

"The more eurozone countries ask for, the more we will ask for in return," he said.

Mr Cameron argues that a financial transaction tax would work only if adopted globally.
The BBC's Chris Morris, in Brussels, says positions appear to be hardening.
A senior German official told the BBC he was more pessimistic than he had been a week ago. Some countries still did not understand just how serious the situation was, he said.
He dismissed as a "trick" talk of introducing a new fiscal agreement for the eurozone within existing treaties.
The Merkel-Sarkozy letter called for "a renewed contract between the euro area member states".
"The current crisis has clearly exposed the deficiencies in the construction of EMU [European Monetary Union]," it said.
"Alongside the single currency, a strong economic pillar is indispensable, building on enhanced governance to foster fiscal discipline as well as stronger growth and enhanced competitiveness."
But an EU commissioner publicly derided the idea that sanctions alone could compel euro member states to abide by the rules.
"Automatic sanctions are a joke. Fiscal union needs collective, democratic decision-making that can respond to challenges & manage agg. [aggregate] demand," Laszlo Andor.
He told the BBC that smaller EU states were disgruntled at the dominance of France and Germany in the decision-making process.
"Certainly very often when we speak with other member states, other than these two, yes you hear a certain disappointment and or even bitterness about how certain deals or bargains are handed out without the official meetings... and other countries might be taken for granted," he told the BBC's World Tonight programme.
"Of course it's very important, more important than ever, that leaders of Germany and France agree... But I think it's also important to have a very inclusive debate and look at all the options the European Commission has put forward," Mr Andor said.

China warns of 'severe challenges' to exports to West

2011-12-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Sales to Europe and the US comprise just under 40% of China's total exports, but have been falling

China faces "severe challenges" to its exports due to economic difficulties in key Western markets, the country's commerce ministry has warned.

Data due to be released on Saturday will show a sharp slowdown in export growth in November, the ministry said.
Sales to Europe and the US, which comprise about 40% of total exports, were not expected to recover next year.
The ministry said China would instead target exports to developing markets in Asia and Latin America.
Weaker manufacturing China will also try to boost its imports from the West, the ministry said, in order to help support their economies and to balance out China's trade surplus.
Exports to the European Union fell 9% in October versus a year ago, and exports to the US fell 5%.
The country's total exports, however, were still up 15.9%, thanks in part to booming demand from Latin America.
But it was the weakest annual growth rate in two years, and exports were sharply down compared with a month earlier.

Next year there won't be fundamental improvement in Europe or the United States”

Wang Shouwen Chinese Foreign Trade Director

"There is a lot of concern in Beijing about weakening demand from the developed world, especially from Europe," said Michael Pettis, economics professor at Peking University.

"China is still overly reliant on domestic investment and net exports to generate growth," he added, noting that Beijing was also recognising that further debt-fuelled growth in domestic investment was storing up problems for the economy and the country's banks.
The poor performance was mirrored by a recent manufacturing survey, which indicated that the sector contracted in November for the first time since the 2008-09 Western recession.
The commerce ministry also blamed rising wages in China for hurting its trade competitiveness.
'Not realistic' "Next year, I think that we will face severe challenges in our exports and imports," said Foreign Trade Director Wang Shouwen.
"There won't be fundamental improvement in Europe or the United States, and costs at home will stay as high as this year, so the foreign trade situation will be severe next year.
"However, some developing and emerging economies are enjoying sound economic performances, so we will attach more importance to exports to these countries."
But China's plan to focus on developing markets is not realistic, according to Professor Pettis.
"Europe, the US and Japan account for more than two-thirds of the rest of the world's consumption, and it is hard to imagine that the developing world can replace them over the next several years.
"To make matters worse, much of the growth that is occurring in the developing world is driven by Chinese demand for commodities.
"So if China is serious about reducing it's over-reliance on investment it will have the unfortunate consequence of reducing growth in the developing world just when China needs it most."
Attempts to increase its exports to the developing world may also meet with resistance.
Recent data showed that Brazil's economic growth had slowed to a standstill.
The country - Latin America's biggest - has previously complained about the threat to its own export competitiveness posed by the weakness of Western currencies.
Meanwhile in India, the mood may be turning against opening up the country's economy to foreign competitors.
The government suspended plans to let global supermarkets compete in the country, following political uproar and public protests.

Syria's Bashar al-Assad 'feels no guilt' over crackdown

2011-12-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Bashar al-Assad told ABC's Barbara Walters that he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters

Syria's president has said that he feels no guilt about his crackdown on a 10-month uprising, despite reports of brutality by security forces.

In an interview with the US network ABC, Bashar al-Assad said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters but admitted "mistakes" were made.
He said he did not own the security forces or the country.
At least 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, the UN says.
However, Mr Assad said the UN was not credible.
Syria blames the violence on "armed criminal gangs".
The US later rejected President Assad's assertions that he did not order the killing of protesters.
"It is just not credible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"The United States and many, many other nations around the world who have come together to condemn the atrocious violence in Syria perpetrated by the Assad regime know exactly what's happening and who is responsible."

Mr Assad's interview comes a day after the US announced that its ambassador in Syria, Robert Ford, would return to Damascus after he was withdrawn in October because of security concerns.
France's ambassador returned on Monday.
'Big difference' Responding to questions from veteran presenter Barbara Walters about the brutality of the crackdown, Mr Assad said he did not feel any guilt.
"I did my best to protect the people, so I cannot feel guilty," he said. "You feel sorry for the lives that has [sic] been lost. But you don't feel guilty - when you don't kill people."
"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," he added.
The security forces were not his, nor did he command them, the Syrian president said.
"There was no command, to kill or to be brutal," he said.
"I don't own them, I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces."

President Assad's responses to ABC's questions about security showed that he was keen to deflect allegations of brutality levelled against his security forces.
By giving the interview in the first place, he was clearly concerned to reach out to American public opinion and policy-makers to correct the wrong impressions he believes they are being given about what is happening in Syria.
While not denying excesses, he challenged the "false allegations" on which much of the media - and the UN's Human Rights Commission - based their conclusions.
He appeared confident that his embattled regime would weather the internal challenge as well as outside pressures from sanctions.
He believed the majority of Syrians - who he said were neither for nor against the regime - would be won over by reforms which he said would give other parties a chance.

Instead he blamed the violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists sympathetic to al-Qaeda, who he said were mingling with peaceful protesters.

He said most of those killed were from government supporters, with 1,100 soldiers and police among the dead.
Those members of the security forces who had exceeded their powers had been punished, he said.
"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said.
"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."
When challenged about reports of house-to-house arrests, including of children, Mr Assad said the sources could not be relied upon.
"We have to be here to see. We don't see this. So we cannot depend on what you hear," he said.
The United Nations, which has said the Syrian government committed crimes against humanity, was not credible, Mr Assad said.
He described Syria's membership of the UN as "a game we play".
Asked if he feared sharing the fate of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi or ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mr Assad said the only thing he was afraid of was losing the support of his own people.

Twitter's top 2011 hashtags: #egypt and #tigerblood

2011-12-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

Tweeters showed interest in the Arab Spring

The most popular hashtags of 2011 have been revealed, illustrating how Twitter spans diverse topics from politics to celebrity gossip.

Hashtags are used to group together tweets relating to the same subject.
Top of the list was #egypt, followed by #tigerblood.
The first refers to the unrest in Egypt during the spring of 2011 while the second references a comment made by actor Charlie Sheen, following his sacking from a hit US comedy.
Sheen made the headlines in 2011 for a series of often rambling public rants which culminated with the comment to online celebrity gossip site RadarOnline: "My fangs are dripping tiger blood."
At the same time, he joined Twitter and racked up one million followers in the first 24 hours, believed to be a record for the site.
He used the site to comment on the dispute between him and the Two And A Half Men show's producers, at one point tweeting: "I'm looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood."

TOP TWITTER HASHTAGS

#egypt
#tigerblood
#threewordstoliveby
#idontunderstandwhy
#japan
#improudtosay
#superbowl
#jan25

Twitter also released details about the hottest topics in a range of subjects, including the most talked about actors, countries and news topics.

The resignation of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, which triggered a series of uprising across the Middle East and Africa, topped the news list, followed by the US special force's fatal raid on Osama bin Laden's home. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami ranked in third place.
In the food category the McLobster took top place after it trended on rumours that fast food chain McDonald's was to roll out the crustacean-based sandwich across the US. Previously it had only been available in Canada.
A teenager who was unknown at the start of the year topped the music list. Would-be popstar Rebecca Black was propelled into stardom when her debut single Friday was released on YouTube to widespread mockery. At the time of its release, the song ranked top in global trending topics on Twitter, surpassing the Japanese earthquake crisis.
Perhaps suprisingly teen hit Justin Bieber did not feature in the top names.

Brazil's economic growth stalls in third quarter

2011-12-06T09:16:00.003-08:00

Brazil's interest rate is still one of the highest in the world

Brazil saw its economic growth stall for the three months to the end of September, official figures show.

Its GDP growth was zero compared with the previous quarter, said the country's IBGE statistical bureau.
The government now expects 3.5% growth in 2011, as against 7.5% last year.
Brazil's main interest rate, known as the Selic, has been cut from 12.5% to 11% since August in a bid to boost growth, but is still the highest in the G20 group of leading economies.
Brazil's central bank has had high interest rates for many years, encouraged by fears of a return to the runaway inflation that plagued the country in the 1980s and early 1990s.
"The central bank's decision to cut interest rates early has been fully vindicated and the Selic will probably fall further - perhaps to 9.5% in the first half of next year," said analyst David Rees of Capital Economics.
"Another relevant factor was the worsening situation in the eurozone in the third quarter, which had a big impact on investments," said Andre Perfeito, chief economist at Gradual Investments.
Chinese competition Brazil's farming sector grew by 3.2%, while its service and industrial sectors shrank by 0.3% and 0.9% respectively compared with the previous three months, said the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The largest buyer of Brazilian foodstuffs is China, which overtook the US as Brazil's largest trading partner in 2009.
Although Brazil currently sells more to China than it imports, Brazilian manufacturers have complained that their industries are being affected by cheap mass-produced goods from the Asian giant.
Earlier this year, Brazil imposed a new tariff of $4 a kilo on Chinese synthetic fibres, which are already subject to a 26% import tax.

Apple in EU e-book market probe

2011-12-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

Apple's iBook store is likely to come under scrutiny

Apple and five publishers are to be investigated over anti-competitive practice in the e-book market, says the European Union's anti-trust watchdog.

As well as the tech giant, the inquiry centres on Hachette Livre, Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck.
The Commission said it would focus on alleged illegal agreements restricting competition in the EU.
The UK's Office of Fair Trading has already carried out a similar inquiry.
The character and terms of agreements that the companies made with agencies are to be examined for breaches of EU rules on cartels, the Commission said.
The Office of Fair Trading has now finished its own investigation, but continues to work closely with the Commission, which is extending the scope of the inquiry across the whole of Europe.
The Commission carried out "unannounced inspections" on the companies in March 2011 as part of its investigations at premises in several European countries.
Apple's iBook store, which supplies e-books to the company's iPad tablet computer and the iPhone, is likely to come under scrutiny.
The EU announced an investigation into Google for potential anti-competitive behaviour in November.

Olympus investigation panel finds 'rotten' management

2011-12-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

Former Olympus chief executive Michael Woodford speaks to the BBC

A panel appointed by the board of scandal-hit Olympus has said the "core part of management was rotten", but has found no link to organised crime.

The independent investigation found the camera-maker had concealed business and investment losses that ultimately rose to 132.22bn yen ($1.7bn; £1.09bn).
The panel is urging legal action against those who were involved in the cover-up.
It has also said that those who knew about the situation should be replaced.
Losses 'hidden' The 178-page report was commissioned by the Olympus board and undertaken by an independent panel.
It was headed by a former Supreme Court judge, Tatsuo Kainaka, and its findings are based on voluntary hearings and company computer analysis.
The panel recommended significant changes to the board and listed 10 reasons why the scandal took place at the 92-year-old company.
They ranged from poor quality personnel management to incompetent external auditing.

Olympus shares have lost three-quarters of their value since 14 October

The panel laid the blame for cooking the books over 13 years mostly on two executives, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and ex-internal auditor Hideo Yamada.
The panel found no evidence that either executive had gained personally and both have resigned since the scandal came to light.
According to the report, the aim of the two men was to hide losses made from bad investments during the 1990s as the Japanese stock market crashed.
They pointed to the involvement of "external players" that allowed the fraud to persist. "[They] assisted in the concealment while knowing full well that such accounting practices were illegal," the report said.
The independent committee was also critical of Olympus' auditors during the years under investigation, KPMG AZSA and Ernst & Young ShinNihon.
However, in the final analysis, the panel blamed bad corporate governance by the executive management team. "Past [Olympus] presidents had low esteem for transparency and governance," said the report.
'Yes men' Olympus shares have plunged since its sacked chief executive, Michael Woodford, blew the whistle over his concerns about dubious accounting practices at the firm.
The controversy surrounds the payments made by Olympus to financial advisers as part of its acquisition of companies including British firm Gyrus.
The payments came to light when Mr Woodford claimed that he had been forced out of the company for raising questions about these and other accounting practices in October 2011.
Olympus originally denied any malpractice, but eventually acknowledged that it had used acquisitions, including that of Gyrus, to hide investment losses.
Mr Woodford told the BBC that the report showed "the existing directors are 'yes men' who did not react... and have passed their sell-by date".
Mr Woodford resigned from the board last week to concentrate on a campaign to oust the other board members of Olympus. He told the BBC, "They [the Olympus board] should not choose the next management team."
Mr Woodford also said he was in talks with several of Olympus' shareholders. He has said he would be prepared to return to the chief executive position.
He added that there needed to be a change in the whole of Japanese company culture: "Japan has to change its corporate governance and have powerful non-executives."
Shinsuke Amiya, an MP and member of the Japanese ruling party's panel on corporate governance, said they would use the Olympus report to discuss how to recover market trust. They could make it mandatory to appoint external board members.
Investigation continues Although the report is stronger than expected, it does not contain any real new evidence about what happened at the company.
The independent panel which compiled the report was not authorised to pursue a criminal investigation.
Olympus remains under joint investigation by Japanese police, prosecutors, the markets regulator, UK's Serious Fraud Office and the FBI in the United States.
After the report was released, trading in Olympus shares was halted in Tokyo.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange says it is assessing the report and may consider delisting Olympus.
The exchange has already warned that the company may be delisted if it fails to file its accounts report by 14 December.
Even if Olympus hits the deadline, the Tokyo Stock Exchange can still delist the company if it finds it has mis-stated its accounts or had dealings with organised crime.

Germany's Schaeuble welcomes eurozone downgrade threat

2011-12-06T09:14:00.001-08:00

Moritz Kraemer, of Standard and Poor's: "There is a 40% probability of a recession... especially if we do not reverse the current confidence crisis"

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Standard & Poor's (S&P) threat to downgrade eurozone countries is the "best possible incentive" ahead of Friday's summit.

S&P put almost all eurozone countries on "credit watch" on Monday.
Six countries with top AAA ratings now have a 50% chance of a downgrade.
S&P added on Tuesday that it was placing the AAA rating of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bailout fund under review.
"Depending on the outcome of our review of the ratings on EFSF member governments, we could lower the long-term rating on the EFSF by one or two notches, if any," S&P said in a statement.
Question of trust European markets were lower on Tuesday, with the Dax in Frankfurt down 1.4% and the Cac 40 in Paris down 0.8%.
The borrowing costs of Spain and Italy rose slightly, but yields on Italian 10-year bonds remained below 7%, the rate which is considered to be unaffordable.
"S&P's analysis is backward-looking, identifying the structural weaknesses in the currency union that have been conspicuous to investors for months and which the eurozone's leaders are trying to solve," said BBC business editor Robert Peston.
Mr Schaeuble said that the eurozone summit on Friday must now act to regain the confidence of investors.

"The solution to the crisis must be... verifiable, credible and confidence-building," he said.

"The truth is markets worldwide don't trust the eurozone at all right now."
Norbert Barthle, an aide to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the warning could help Mrs Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to push through their plans for greater budget discipline.
But Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said: "Germany will not let itself be influenced by... the short-lived verdict of one rating agency."
"We think nothing of such threats. We have no difficulties on the financial markets. We are and remain the anchor of stability in Europe," he said.
The announcement from Standard & Poor's came after talks in Paris between the two leaders.
They said that all 17 eurozone states should should face greater checks on their budgets and sanctions if they run up deficits, and that a new treaty should be completed by March to ensure such a crisis never happens again.
'Systemic stresses' S&P announced on Monday that it had placed its "long-term sovereign ratings" on 15 eurozone nations on credit watch "with negative implications".

Crisis jargon buster

Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:

AAA-rating

The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.

The ratings agency said the decision was prompted "by our belief that systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole".

As well as Germany and France, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg also currently have a top AAA rating.
S&P's announcement means that there is a one in two chance that those countries will see their credit rating fall within 90 days.
Analysts also say S&P's move reflects uncertainty about what would happen were a larger eurozone country - such as Italy - to default in future.
The only two countries not put on credit watch on Monday were Cyprus, which is already under review, and Greece, whose rating has already been severely downgraded.

Kourtney Kardashian and 'Teen Mom' Farrah Abraham Fight on Twitter

2011-12-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Rappers aren't the only ones Twitter beefing at any chance they get. Recently, reality TV stars Kourtney Kardashian and Farrah Abraham from MTV's Teen Mom got into a brief tweef that lasted just a few exchanges.
"I'm Shocked Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant again, did she not learn anything from TEEN MOM? Maybe it's a fake pregnancy like kims wedding SAD," Abraham Tweeted on December 2, adding later, "Double standards in this world? Yes & guess what! age and money honestly do not change a person's poor choice . Quit making excuses."
Kim's sister fired back in confusion."Why would I have anything to do with teen mom? I'm 32 years old! I may look young honey, but don't get it twisted," Kardashian responded on Twitter. Her boyfriend, Scott Disick also shot back at the "Teen Mom," writing, "We're not teenagers, ya [expletive] moron." And when Khloe Kardashian asked if he knew who Abraham was, he wrote, "I just thought she was some [expletive] stain on Twitter, no?"

"Caught wind of these dramatic articles, w/ loser scott disick or some boyfriend of kourtneys, is [expletive] Stain< racist 4 black? Great dad! NOT," Abraham fired back. Dominican Debt Collector

Eventually, the teen mom came to her senses and ended the fight. "4 all who misunderstood: regards to kourtney K. I hope she takes her relationship w/her boyfriend
more serious 4 their children-take care."

Mindy McCready Leaves Court a 'Happy Girl' After Custody Ruling

2011-12-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Country singer Mindy McCready left an Arkansas courthouse a "happy girl" Monday without divulging details about a juvenile court judge's ruling on what will happen to her and her five-year-old son Zander.

"I can't talk about it, but I can tell you all I'm a happy girl. I'm a happy girl right now," she said to reporters gathered outside the Izard County courtroom of Judge Lee Harrod.

"I love Judge Harrod, I'll tell you that. I love that man. He's a good man," she said before being driven away from the courthouse.

Though McCready stayed mum at the courthouse, she later sent a text message to news channel HLN that read, "WE WON!!! ZAN STAYS..."

Details on when the singer may be able to take Zander back home to Nashville, and whether McCready will get permanent custody of her son remain unclear.

"The next step would be for the judge to decide," Amy Webb, director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, told ABC News.

Florida Department of Children and Families officials had been expected to request in the hearing that Zander be sent back to Cape Coral, Fla., where McCready's mother, Gayle Inge, is his legal guardian.

"We will not discuss details of this case per the judge's order. Of course we continue to work with all involved parties to ensure this child's safety and well-being," a Florida DCF spokeswoman told ABCNews.com.

McCready's rep offered no information either. "All proceedings and documentation surrounding the hearing are sealed," Kat Atwood said in a statement to ABCNews.com. "No further information is available at this time."

McCready and her son were found by Arkansas police Friday hiding in the closet of an unoccupied summer home days after the pair were first reported missing.

"I understand when a Mom wants her kid, and a mom would do anything for her kid, but she is not excused from the law just because her name is Mindy McCready," her younger half-brother, Sky Phelan, wrote on a Facebook fan page Sunday. "The extreme that Mindy went to was completely unnecessary."

The boy's father and McCready's ex-boyfriend, Billy McKnight, revealed Monday that he had allowed the singer an extended visit with their son after the Thanksgiving weekend.
"She called me up before Thanksgiving and said, 'Hey, look Billy, I'm going back home and I'm going to have these kids [McCready is expecting twins]. I'm not going to be able to be down here. Could I keep the baby this weekend?' And I offered that to her, and when I did that she took him," McKnight told the website Taste of Country.
Under the current custody agreement, McCready's mother, Gayle Inge, is Zander's guardian. McKnight told Taste of Country that he has unsupervised visits with his son four nights a week, and the boy stays with his grandparents the other nights of the week. McCready's visits are supervised by her parents, he said.
But the singer claimed that her son was in danger "both physically and emotionally" while living with her mother, and she was willing to risk jail to protect Zander.
"I'm a mom first," she told The Associated Press last Thursday from Nashville. "No matter what happens, I'm going to protect my kid. If I have to go to jail, so be it."
Both Inge and Phelan deny the abuse allegations.
"If anyone wants to message me, and ask me if I am abused, you are welcome to. I will give you the answer NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT AND NEITHER IS ZANDER," Phelan wrote, using capital letters for emphasis. "All that boy gets is lots of love. My mom is not and never was an abusive person."
"She is looking for the easy way out when she could work the programs provided to her by the court system," Phelan added.
McKnight, who hopes to have full custody of Zander by early 2012, echoed Phelan. "Instead of complying, she did what she did, which is going to set her back probably a pretty good bit," he said.
McCready defied a Florida judge's order last week when she refused to return her son to his grandmother's house. She revealed at the time that she was pregnant with twins and would be unable to travel.

McCready spokeswoman Kat Atwood told ABCNews.com that the singer is entering her sixth month of pregnancy.

"She and the twins' father have been enjoying time spent out of the spotlight," she said. "Although they are excited in the baby news, they would 'like' to continue to do so in private at this time (as much as they can)."

The father is believed to be David Wilson, the man who spoke to police at an unoccupied lake home in Heber Springs, Ark., while the multi-platinum-selling recording artist was hiding in a closet with her son.

Even for McCready, who has struggled with addiction, depression, brushes with the law and a long custody battle over Zander, her latest troubles seemed to be a new low.

I cried and felt terrible for my sister when I found out that she had been hiding in a closet in someone else's home," Phelan said. "Although I don't agree with the things that she does, I will always love my sister, Mindy."

Kate Gosselin runs Las Vegas marathon

2011-12-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

Kate Gosselin ran the Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday, but it apparently took longer than she had hoped. Gosselin finished the 26.2 mile Las Vegas Marathon, which benefited the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, in four hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds.

"A lot slower than I hoped but I finished & I'm happy!" Gosselin wrote on Twitter on December 5.

Though the reality star said she had to be helped from the finish line, she is already raring to go for her next race.

"So sore last pm-hard X walking... but today less sore & back in heels!" Gosselin continued. "Yes, ready to start training for next 1... to beat my X!"

Gosselin has been running for about three years and trained for the race near her home in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.

"I'm running this because I want to show that with dedication and determination anything is possible," Gosselin told People magazine before the event. "I want them to remember this moment when their mom completed a marathon, knowing that nothing in life should stop them from attaining their goals."

"This will probably be one of the most painful messages I will ever impart to them," Gosselin joked.

Gosselin recently laughed off rumors that she received a facelift, addressing the issue at her new blogging gig.

"I will confirm that I have not had one," Gosselin wrote on her CouponCabin.com blog. "I am only 36! But, I will take all of the talk about how rested and young I look as a compliment! So thanks!"

According to Us Weekly magazine, Gosselin had a tummy tuck in 2007 and breast implant surgery in 2009. In June, she reportedly gave herself Botox injections.

In November, CouponCabin.com announced that Gosselin would serve as a contributing blogger, offering money-saving advice. The mother of eight returned to the job market after her TLC reality series "Kate Plus 8" ended in September.

"No matter what your financial situation is, there's no reason not to use coupons. It's like free money in your pocket!" Gosselin said in a statement at the time. "I'm thrilled to lend my expertise to CouponCabin.com, where you can easily find the best deals on practically everything."

Gosselin's blogging gig began on November 22 and the reality star offered advice on holiday shopping before the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday.

The series finale of "Kate Plus 8," a spin-off of her original program "Jon & Kate Plus 8," aired on September 12 and Gosselin said that she felt bad for her children.

"I feel sad for my kids, because of all of the opportunities that they're now questioning what's going to happen," Gosselin said on NBC's "Today" show at the time. "I feel sad for fans because they're devastated. They're saying, 'You know, you're the neighbor moving far away and we won't see you again.'"

The TLC series saw Gosselin living life as a single mother of sextuplets - 7-year-old Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel, and twin daughters, Cara and Madelyn, who are 11. Gosselin reportedly earned $250,000 per episode, according to TVGuide.com. (Check out a list of the highest-paid stars on television)

"Jon & Kate Plus 8" debuted in 2007 following a series of specials and featured her and then-husband Jon. The series changed its name in 2009, when the couple divorced.

The show made the family famous and Gosselin also had the chance to compete on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" last year. The Gosselins also appeared on the Discovery Channel series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" (see photos).

TLC had announced on August 15 that "Kate Plus 8' would end on September 12 after 150 episodes, adding that the network "hopes to check in with Kate and the family periodically with specials in the future."

Blasts across Afghanistan target Shi'ites, 59 dead

2011-12-06T09:01:00.001-08:00

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide attack killed dozens of Shi'ite Muslims at a crowded Kabul shrine on Tuesday, and four others died in a smaller blast in a key northern city, in the worst sectarian violence Afghanistan has seen since the fall of the Taliban.

The Kabul bomb was the deadliest in the capital since 2008, and punctured any lingering sense of optimism from a conference on Monday where Western allies made firm but not specific promises to support Afghanistan after troops leave in 2014.

Bodies and blood were scattered down a street in the heart of old Kabul where a crowd of hundreds had gathered to mark the festival of Ashura, with chanting, and self-flagellation. At least 55 were killed and 160 wounded, some critically.

Afghans, who have previously been spared the large-scale sectarian attacks that regularly trouble Iraq and neighboring Pakistan, now face the grim prospect of a new type of bloodshed being added to the dangers of daily life.

"This is the first time on such an important religious day in Afghanistan that terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place," Afghan President Hamid Karzai told journalists in Germany, where the conference on Afghanistan's future was held.

Outside a Kabul hospital, mourners cried near a pile of bloody clothes and shoes. A woman in a dark headscarf clutching a bloodstained sports shoe said her son, in his early 20s, had died. "They killed my son ... this is his shoe," she wailed.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kabul and northern Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban strongly condemned the bombings and blamed "invader enemies."

Afghanistan has a history of tension and violence between Sunnis and the Shi'ite minority. But since the fall of the Taliban the country had avoided the large scale sectarian attacks that have troubled neighboring Pakistan.

"Afghanistan has been at war for 30 years and terrible things have happened, but one of the things that Afghans have been spared generally has been what appears to be this kind of very targeted sectarian attack," said Kate Clark, from the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

"We don't know who planted the bomb yet and it is dangerous to jump to conclusions but if it was Taliban, it marks something really serious, and dangerous, and very troubling."

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Shortly after the Kabul blast, a bicycle bomb exploded near the main mosque in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city, killing four, injuring 17 others, and sparking a fight at a university mosque where Shi'ites and Sunnis were both praying.

"Enemies wanted to target the Muslim precession attending prayer, but because of tight security they failed," the city's senior police detective Abdul Raoof Taj, told Reuters.

Four people were injured in the mosque scuffle, which broke out when worshippers began arguing about the blast.

Police later defused a mine, found near the site of the explosion and likely intended to target rescuers and security forces attending to victims of the bomb.

A motorbike bomb also appeared to be aimed at Shi'ite worshippers in southern Kandahar city, the Taliban's spiritual home and centre of a strong push by NATO-led troops to push the insurgents out of their stronghold.

It exploded prematurely, injuring two policemen and three civilians, but causing no deaths.

"We cannot say for certain who the bomber's target was, but it was probably the Ashura (ceremonies)," said Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq.

"We have 100 per cent security. The enemies cannot enter the prayer sites. With such actions they want to show they exist."

The Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein in the battle of Karbala in Iraq in the year 680.

Ashura is the biggest event in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, when large processions are vulnerable to militant attacks, including suicide bombings. Pakistan has deployed tens of thousands of paramilitary soldiers and police during Ashura.

Blood has spilled between Pakistan's majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite militants for decades.

Sectarian strife has intensified since Sunni militants deepened ties with al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban insurgents after Pakistan joined the U.S.-led campaign against militancy after the September 11 attacks.

(Additional reporting by Omar Sobhani, Daniel Magnowski and Jan Harvey, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

UK to expel all Iranian diplomats over embassy attack

2011-11-30T08:36:00.000-08:00

Foreign Secretary William Hague: "We require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London"

The UK is to expel all Iranian diplomats following the storming of its embassy in Tehran, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced.

He said he had ordered the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London.
Tuesday's attack by hundreds of protesters followed Britain's decision to impose further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
The sanctions led to Iran's parliament reducing diplomatic ties with the UK.
Mr Hague said he was demanding the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London, with all its staff to leave the UK within 48 hours.
"If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil they cannot expect to have a functioning embassy here,"
He said there had been "some degree of regime consent" in the attacks on the embassy and on another UK diplomatic compound in Tehran.
He said all UK diplomatic staff in Tehran had been evacuated and the embassy closed.
Mr Hague said relations between the UK and Iran were now at their lowest level, but the UK was not severing relations with Tehran entirely.

William Hague's statement in the House of Commons contained some of the strongest possible diplomatic language.
The announcement was sudden and dramatic.
There has been no response yet from officials at the Iranian embassy in London. The building is best remembered for the armed siege that took place here in 1980. Today it looked like business as usual, with the occasional visitor going in and out.
A solitary policeman was on duty outside the front entrance as camera crews and photographers began arriving in the wake of Mr Hague's statement.
Iran does not currently have an ambassador at its mission in London. It was the Iranian charge d'affaires who was summoned to the Foreign Office to receive the news that all Tehran's diplomats had to leave the UK by Friday.

Addressing parliament, Mr Hague said he was due to raise the matter at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

"We will discuss these events and further action which needs to be taken in the light of Iran's continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons programme," he said.
Also on Wednesday, Germany announced it was temporarily recalling its ambassador to Tehran over the "unacceptable" storming of the British embassy.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said the Iranian ambassador to Rome was being summoned to give guarantees of security for Italy's mission in Tehran.
Hundreds of protesters - whom Iran described as "students" - massed outside the embassy compound on Tuesday afternoon before scaling the walls and the gates, burning British flags and a car.
Another UK diplomatic compound in northern Tehran, known locally as Qolhak Garden, was also overrun and damaged.
Iran said it regretted the incident, which it described as "unacceptable behaviour by a small number of protesters".
Mr Hague said the majority of those taking part had been members of a regime-backed Basij militia group.
He said the private quarters of staff and the ambassador had been ransacked, the main embassy office set on fire and personal possessions belonging to UK diplomats stolen.
The US, EU and UN Security Council also condemned the attacks.
Turbulent history Relations between the UK and the Islamic Republic of Iran have been fraught since the Iranian revolution in 1979.
Wednesday's move brings bilateral relations to their lowest level since 1989 when ties were broken over Iran's declaration of a "fatwa" (edict) to kill the author Salman Rushdie.

Iran apologised for the attacks on the UK compounds in Tehran

Analysts have compared Tuesday's scenes in Tehran to the 1979 storming of the US embassy there. That ended with more than 50 US diplomats and staff being held hostage for more than 400 days.
The US and Iran have had no diplomatic ties since then - the Swiss embassy in Tehran serves as the protecting power for US interests in the country.
Last week the US, Canada and the UK announced new sanctions against Iran, including measures to restrict the activities of the Iranian central bank.
The UK said then it was severing all financial ties with Iran.
The move followed a report by the UN's nuclear watchdog (IAEA) that said Iran had carried out tests "relevant to the development of a nuclear device".
Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
On Sunday, Iran's parliament voted by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic relations with the UK in response to the recent action.

Adriana Lima Pictures

2011-11-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

More than 200 arrested in Occupy LA raid

2011-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a massive show of force, 1,400 police officers, some in riot gear stormed the Occupy Los Angeles camp early Wednesday, driving protesters from the park and arresting more than 200 who defied orders to leave. Similar raids in Philadelphia led to 50 arrests, but the scene in both cities was relatively peaceful.

Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia moved in on Occupy Wall Street encampments under darkness in an effort to clear out some of the longest-lasting protest sites since crackdowns ended similar occupations across the country.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck praised the officers and the protesters for their restraint and the peaceful way the eviction was carried out.

Officers flooded down the steps of City Hall just after midnight and started dismantling the two-month-old camp two days after a deadline passed for campers to leave the park. Officers in helmets and wielding batons and guns with rubber bullets converged on the park from all directions with military precision and began making arrests after several orders were given to leave.

There were no injuries and no drugs or weapons were found during a search of the emptied camp which was strewn with garbage after the raid. City workers put up concrete barriers to wall off the park while it's restored.

The raid in Los Angeles came after demonstrators with the movement in Philadelphia marched through the streets after being evicted from their site. About 40 protesters were arrested after refusing to clear a street several blocks northeast of City Hall, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. They were lined up in cuffs and loaded on to buses by officers. Six others were arrested earlier after remaining on a street police that police tried to clear.

"The police officers who were involved in this operation were hand-picked for this assignment," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said. "They're highly trained and disciplined and showed a tremendous amount of restraint and professionalism in carrying out this morning's operation."

Ramsey said he would have preferred to evict the protesters without making arrests, but some refused orders to clear the street and had to be taken into custody. He said three officers sustained minor injuries. Protesters reported some injuries, but none appeared serious.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa raised public safety and health concerns in announcing plans for the eviction last week, while Philadelphia officials said protesters must clear their site to make room for a $50 million renovation project.

Defiant Los Angeles campers who were chanting slogans as the officers surrounded the park, booed when an unlawful assembly was declared, paving the way for officers to begin arresting those who didn't leave.

In the first moments of the raid, officers tore down a tent and tackled a tattooed man with a camera on City Hall steps and wrestled him to the ground. Someone yelled "police brutality."

Teams of four or five officers moved through the crowd making arrests one at a time, cuffing the hands of protesters with white plastic zip-ties. A circle of protesters sat with arms locked, many looking calm and smiling.

Opamago Cascini, 29, said the night had been a blast and he was willing to get arrested.

"It's easy to talk the talk, but you gotta walk the walk," Cascini said.

Police used a cherry picker to pluck five men from trees. Two others were in a tree house — one wore a crown and another taunted police with an American flag.

In Philadelphia, police began pulling down tents at about 1:20 a.m. EST after giving demonstrators three warnings that they would have to leave, which nearly all of the protesters followed. Dozens of demonstrators then began marching through the streets and continued through the night.

Ramsey said breaking up the camp in the early-morning hours helped minimize any disruption to businesses and traffic.

"We acknowledge the fact that we are going to have to leave this space .... but in another sense this has been our home for almost two months and no one wants to see their home taken away from them," Philadelphia protestor Bri Barton, 22, said before police began clearing out the camp.

"Whether or not we have this space or work in the city is nowhere near done," she said.

The eviction overall appeared to have been carried out without any significant scuffles or violence.

Later Wednesday morning, workers used front-end loaders to scoop up tents, trash and other debris and dump it into trucks to be hauled away, while others swept the plaza clean.

Demonstrators and city officials in both Los Angeles and Philadelphia were hoping any confrontation would be nonviolent, unlike evictions at similar camps around the country that sometimes involved pepper spray and tear gas. The movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago.

The Los Angeles officers staged for hours outside Dodger Stadium before the raid. They were warned that demonstrators might throw everything from concrete and gravel to human feces at them.

"Please put your face masks down and watch each other's back," a supervisor told them. "Now go to work."

The officers came from a wide range of specialized units within the force, including the bomb squad, and the arson unit. Scores of officers in hazmat suits also were sent in to deal with potentially unsanitary conditions in the park.

Before police arrived in large numbers, protesters were upbeat and the mood was almost festive. A protester in a Santa Claus hat danced in the street. A woman showed off the reindeer antlers she had mounted on her gas mask.

Burger King debuts thicker fries amid competition

2011-11-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

(Reuters) - Burger King Corp, the second largest hamburger chain, has changed its french fry recipe for the first time since 1998 as competition from upstarts and traditional fast-food rivals mounts.

Burger King said it made the new fries thicker, reduced sodium and added a coating that makes them crisper and keeps them hotter longer.

The fries, now a bit wider in diameter than a No. 2 pencil, will be available in its more than 7,000 North American Burger King restaurants by December 5. Prices remain the same.

"We're always trying to have the best menu possible. French fries are a big seller for us and we want to make sure we're always improving," said Leo Leon, vice president of innovation.

Leon said Burger King tested the new fries against other options: "This, by far, was the winner."

Burger King's move comes a little over a year after rival Wendy's introduced thinner "natural cut" fries that leave on some skin and are sprinkled with sea salt.

McDonald's Corp's french fries often take the top spot in customer surveys, but independents like Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Smashburger and In-N-Out Burger have been dialing up the pressure.

"The competition to have good quality french fries is heating up," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at consulting firm Technomic, who recently tried the new Burger King fries.

"Making them thicker certainly makes them easier to eat, and since many of them are consumed in the car with one hand on the steering wheel, that's probably not a bad idea," Tristano said.

Burger King said the new fries have 20 percent less sodium than their predecessors.

The smallest, $1 portion has 330 mg of sodium and 240 calories. The fries are cooked in trans fat-free vegetable oil and do not contain animal products, Burger King said.

On December 16 Burger King is promoting its new fries by giving away $1 "value" portions for free. The new fries will be available outside the United States in 2012.

The trend in french fries is toward more "natural" offerings. That includes fries that are or appear to be made from fresh-cut potatoes and topped with "artisan" toppings like sea salt.

"The term natural seems to resonate (with diners) even though there isn't a great definition of natural," Tristano said.

In-N-Out cuts its french fries in its restaurants every day and cooks them in cholesterol-free vegetable oil.

Five Guys cooks its fries in peanut oil and gives customers the option of having them "cajun style."

Smashburger seasons its regular fries with sea salt. It also offers fries made from potatoes or sweet potatoes that are "toasted with rosemary, olive oil and garlic." Debt Collector In Dominican Republic

McDonald's lately has attempted to reinforce its position as the top french fry seller by promoting its fries, Tristano said.

Investment firm 3G Capital last year bought Burger King and took it private in a $3.3 billion deal. Burger King has 12,400 restaurants around the world.

Pakistan US ambassador Haqqani resigns over 'memogate'

2011-11-22T08:55:00.001-08:00

Mr Haqqani, a former journalist, has been ambassador to the US since 2008

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States has resigned over claims that he sought Washington's help against his country's military.

Husain Haqqani is accused of compiling a memo seeking US help to avert a military takeover in Pakistan following the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May.
The ambassador denied the allegations, which were made by a US-based lobbyist.
The row has put already tense relations between Pakistan's civilian and military leaders under severe strain.
Mr Haqqani was summoned to Islamabad last week - he quit after meeting Pakistan's civilian and military leaders on Tuesday.
"I have requested PM Gilani to accept my resignation as Pakistan ambassador to US," he said in a Twitter post shortly after the meeting.
State television said that his resignation had been accepted.
"I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry and intolerance," Mr Haqqani said in another Twitter post. "Will focus energies on that."
His resignation follows a meeting with President Asif Zardari and the head of the army and intelligence service heads.
A spokesman for the prime minister's office told the Reuters news agency that Mr Haqqani had been asked to resign and there would be an investigation into the memo.
Mr Haqqani, a close ally of President Zardari, has repeatedly denied any role in drafting or delivering the memo.
However, former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen recently confirmed that he had received a secret communication.
But he said that did not pay any attention to it and took no follow-up action.

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2011-11-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

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Market nerves over euro strategy

2011-10-20T08:36:00.001-07:00

World stock markets have fallen on fears that eurozone leaders are divided over how to tackle the debt crisis.

After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Frankfurt, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was reported to have said that the two countries were at odds over a rescue plan.
London's FTSE 100 index fell 1.4% while German and French markets also fell.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on leaders to reach a deal.
Mr Barroso said there would be "a positive result if all maintained a sense of compromise".
Earlier, Asian markets had fallen, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 1.8% and South Korea's Kospi ending 2.7% lower.
President Sarkozy had travelled to Germany for talks with Mrs Merkel, IMF director Christine Lagarde, outgoing European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and other key officials.
He later returned to Paris, where his wife Carla Bruni had given birth to a baby girl.
Delayed summit

The German government has been busy hosing down expectations that this weekend's eurozone summit will deliver anything more than progress, presumably so that investors don't defenestrate themselves on Monday morning at the blinding realisation that many of the currency union's structural flaws are not amenable to overnight remedies”

The emergency talks were aiming to break the stalemate between Germany and France over how to increase the firepower of the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Earlier this month, the two countries said they had a plan to address the debt problem and would give further details by the end of October.
But doubts have set in as reports emerged that proposals for the EFSF was still being discussed.
EU leaders will hold a summit on Sunday.
The meeting had been scheduled for 17-18 October, but was delayed because more time was needed to finalise a plan to give money to Greece and bolster debt-laden banks.

Muammar Gaddafi killed in Libya

2011-10-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Sirte: "I have spoken to the man who says that he captured him... he was brandishing a golden pistol"

Libya's ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after an assault on his home town of Sirte, the transitional authority's acting prime minister says.

Mahmoud Jibril told a news conference in Tripoli it was time to launch a new, united Libya.
Video footage has been broadcast around the world showing a battered body claimed to be that of Col Gaddafi.
He was toppled in August after 42 years in power. The International Criminal Court has been seeking his arrest.
Golden gun After a day of conflicting reports and rumours, Mr Jibril told the news conference: "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed.

Al-Jazeera TV broadcast footage it says showed Col Gaddafi's body

"I think it's for the Libyans to realise that it's time to start a new Libya, a united Libya, one people, one future."
Grainy video footage had earlier been circulating among NTC fighters appearing to show Col Gaddafi's corpse.
The video shows a large number of NTC fighters yelling in chaotic scenes around a khaki-clad body, which has blood oozing from the face and neck.
Another video broadcast by al-Jazeera TV showed a body being dragged through the streets which the channel said was that of Col Gaddafi.
Nato, which has been running a bombing campaign in Libya for months, said it had carried out an air strike earlier on Thursday that hit two pro-Gaddafi vehicles near Sirte.
It was unclear whether the strikes were connected with Col Gaddafi's death.

Driving into the centre of Tripoli, there are throngs of people out on the streets - men, women and children - many hugging each other and chanting. Gunshots can be heard firing into the air - despite a religious edict banning the practice. Car horns are blaring and many vehicles have their emergency lights blinking.
At some checkpoints, security officials are handing out what have been dubbed "revolutionary mints" and biscuits.
All the flags are out. People are genuinely convinced this is the end of Col Gaddafi. They felt that even in hiding he posed a threat to the revolution - but for them this news means the authorities can now start to rebuild the country.

Earlier, NTC official Abdel Hafez Ghoga told AFP: "We announce to the world that Gaddafi has been killed at the hands of the revolution.

"It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate."
An NTC fighter told the BBC he found Col Gaddafi hiding in a hole in Sirte, and the former leader begged him not to shoot.
The fighter showed reporters a golden pistol he said he had taken from Col Gaddafi.
Arabic TV channels showed images of troops surrounding two large drainage pipes where the reporters said Col Gaddafi was found.
NTC supporters gathered in towns and cities to celebrate the reports of the colonel's death.
Groups of young men fired guns in the air, and drivers honked horns in celebration.
His death came after weeks of fierce fighting for Sirte, one of the last remaining pockets of resistance.

Raw vegetables and fruit 'counteract heart risk genes'

2011-10-12T09:13:00.005-07:00

Experts already recommend eating at least five portions of fruit and veg a day for good health

People who are genetically susceptible to heart disease can lower their risk by eating plenty of fruit and raw vegetables, a study suggests.

It says five or more daily portions should be enough to counteract culprit versions of a gene on chromosome 9, thought to be possessed by a fifth of people of European ancestry.
Healthy diets appeared to weaken its effect.
The US researchers investigated more than 27,000 people for their work.
The findings were published in Plos Medicine journal.
These participants came from from around the globe, including Europe, China and Latin America.
The results suggest that individuals with high risk 9p21 gene versions who consumed a diet packed with raw vegetables, fruits and berries had a similar risk of heart attack as those with a low-risk variant of the same gene. Five a day

Foods that count:

Fresh fruit and vegetables
Frozen fruit and vegetables
Dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs
Tinned or canned fruit and vegetables
Fruit and vegetables cooked in dishes such as soups, stews or pasta dishes
A glass (150ml) of unsweetened 100% fruit or vegetable juice
Smoothies
Beans and pulses; these only count as one portion a day, no matter how many you eat

Researcher Prof Sonia Anand, of McMaster University, said: "Our results support the public health recommendation to consume more than five servings of fruits or vegetables as a way to promote good health."

The scientists, who also included staff from McGill University, say they now need to do more work to establish how diet might have this effect on genes.
Judy O'Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation said the findings should serve as a reminder that while lifestyle and genes could increase heart risk, the way the two interacted with each other was also very important.
"The relationship between the two is often very complicated and we don't yet have all the answers, but the message appears to be very simple - eating lots of fruit and vegetables is great news for our heart health."

India encephalitis outbreak kills 400, mainly children

2011-10-12T09:13:00.001-07:00

By Soutik Biswas BBC News, Delhi

Viral encephalitis has killed hundreds of children in Uttar Pradesh over the last decade

More than 400 people, mainly children, have died in an outbreak of viral encephalitis in northern India, health officials say.

So far 2,300 patients have been admitted to a hospital in the affected Gorakhpur area of Uttar Pradesh state.
A doctor told the BBC that it was a "tragedy beyond imagination" with children dying every day.
Nearly 6,000 children have died of encephalitis in the hospital since the first case was detected in 1978.
Most of the deaths this year have happened since July, doctors say.
The disease occurs regularly during the monsoon in the Gorakhpur region bordering Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The low-lying areas are prone to floods and water-logging. Lack of sanitation provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes and leads to contamination of water supplies.
This happens because most people defecate in the open in villages of the area, while water is consumed mainly using shallow hand pumps.
'Tragedy' Doctors say affected patients come from 10-12 districts in the region, and are mostly poor.
Until 2005, the majority of deaths were caused by Japanese encephalitis, caused by a mosquito-borne virus, doctors say.
But in the past six years, children have been dying of viral encephalitis, a water-borne disease caused by contaminated water.

It is an unbelievable tragedy. Children are dying every day.”

Dr KP Kushwaha Pediatrician

Both the diseases cause head aches and vomiting and can lead to comas, brain dysfunctions, seizures and inflammations of the heart and kidney.

Doctors say children between the age of six months to 15 years are worst affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas.
"It is unbelievable tragedy. There are five to 10 children dying every day," Dr KP Kushwaha, head of paediatrics at the BRD Medical College, the only hospital treating patients, told the BBC.
Most of the 370 beds in the paediatrics and medicine departments at the hospital are overflowing with more than one patient occupying a bed, he said.
A fifth of the children who survive have to live with neurological weaknesses and retardation, doctors say.
"Children are most affected because they have lower immunity and they end up consuming a lot of contaminated water at home," Dr Kushwaha said.
'Shambles' Though the incubation period of viral encephalitis is between three and 30 days, patients are brought to the hospital from far-flung areas because of the lack of adequate healthcare in their villages.
"The public health care system is in a shambles. And the tragedy repeats every year," said Kumar Harsh, a local journalist.
The government says it has tried to check the regular outbreak of the encephalitis in the region.
Two massive vaccination drives against Japanese encephalitis were carried out in Gorakhpur in 2006 and 2010, leading to a drastic decline of the disease in the area.

The disease is caused by contaminated water

Also, people took precautions by using mosquito nets and repellents.
But tackling viral encephalitis has proved to be tougher challenge, and controlling it will require a vast improvement in sanitation and drinking water supply in rural areas, health officials say.
The state government disbursed over millions of rupees from a federal health programme for treatment of patients at the state-run BRD Medical College in 2009.
Part of this money was spent in hiring 135 researchers, doctors and paramedical staff to beef up treatment.
Most of the money ran out by August, leaving only 36 of them receiving regular salaries, say authorities.
The encephalitis outbreak in Gorakhpur has attracted national and international attention - scientists from US-based Centers for Disease Control visited the area in 2009, and took away medical samples to examine the virus.
In 2005, a virulent outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in Gorakhpur killed 1000 people, mostly children. This was the worst outbreak since 1978.

Blackberry problems spread to US

2011-10-12T09:12:00.002-07:00

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat listeners described how the crash affected them

Problems with the Blackberry smartphone system appear have to spread to the United States.

Users began to report loss of services on Wednesday, with many turning to Twitter to complain about their lack of email.
The latest development follows two days of sporadic blackouts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Blackberry's owner, RIM, said that the earlier problem was caused by core and back-up switch failures.
As news of the failure in the US spread, one user tweeted: "What is the status here in the USA? I am in New York and there seems to be no email service."
Another, who lives in Texas, wrote: "My #blackberry is not working! I can dial out that's it. What's up?".
'Data backlog' Blackberry had earlier declared services to be "operating normally", only to be contradicted by frustrated users.
Many called on the phone firm to "sort out" the problems and get the network running again.
RIM acknowledged that it was still experiencing problems and apologised for the inconvenience.
"The messaging and browsing delays... in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure," a company statement said.

"Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.
"As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible."
The blackouts have left millions of users without email, web browsing and Blackberry Messaging (BBM) services.
The cause is believed to be due to server problems at RIM's Slough data centre.
Blackberry users around the world began reporting problems with their handsets mid-morning on 10 October and at 14:42 BST, Blackberry UK sent out a tweet which said: "Some users in EMEA are experiencing issues."
The "issues" left many Blackberry owners only able to text and make calls.
'Harsh criticism' Many corporate customers said they had not lost service, suggesting that the problem was with Blackberry's BIS consumer systems, rather than its BES enterprise systems.

BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones: "Blackberry has so many high profile users who are complaining about the crash"

"Blackberry runs two infrastructures," explained Simon Butler, a Microsoft Exchange consultant at Sembee.
"The understanding I have is that the BIS service has crashed.
"The business side runs on a different set of servers, although enterprise Blackberrys can still use messenger and the consumer services, so they are also affected," said Mr Butler.
Such a major failure will still come as unwelcome news to Blackberry's owner RIM, which has been losing market share to smartphone rivals - in particular Apple's iPhone.
Many corporate clients have switched to the device after Apple made a concerted effort to improve its support for secure business email systems.
Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said RIM would have to resolve the problem quickly.
"The current situation with the Blackberry outages couldn't come at a worse time for RIM, following some harsh criticism in recent months," he said.
Such crashes may lead RIM and others to "re-evaluate their reliance on centralised servers and instead look to investing in more corporately controlled servers", he added.
But he thinks customers will stick with the firm despite current frustrations.
"It will take more than just a couple of collapses to persuade loyal consumers of Blackberry services to look for alternatives," he said.
Many of those complaining about the crash said on Twitter that they could not live without access to BBM.

Eurozone industrial production sees surprise rise

2011-10-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

German output is now up by 7.8% on a year ago

Industrial production in the 17 countries that use the euro rose unexpectedly by 1.2% in August.

The EU's statistics office, Eurostat, said it meant industrial production had risen by 5.3% on an annual basis.
The increase may ease concerns that the eurozone is heading back into recession in the third quarter.
Economists had forecast a rise of 2.2% on an annual basis, and fall of 0.7% on the month. August's increase follows a rise of 1.1% in July.
Meanwhile the Irish Republic, which is implementing an austerity programme, saw its production increase 4.4% in August and jump by 10.1% year-on-year.
'Overly flattering' "August's rise in eurozone industrial production suggests that, for now at least, the sector is continuing to prop up the wider recovery," said Ben May of Capital Economics.
"But this is unlikely to last. The 1.2% monthly rise in output was much stronger than expected, and was a touch better than July's healthy 1.1% gain."
He added: "Nonetheless, the headline figures paint an overly flattering picture of the state of the sector."
Mr May said there was evidence temporary factors, such as the timing of school holidays, had been an important factor behind the recent rise in output.

Barroso outlines plan to resolve eurozone debt crisis

2011-10-12T09:11:00.001-07:00

Jose Manuel Barroso says there needs to be "more discipline" in Europe

The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has set out a plan designed to bring an end to the eurozone debt crisis.

In a speech, Mr Barroso said banks must set aside more assets to help guard against future losses.
Banks supported by the eurozone bailout fund - the European Financial Stability Facility - should be stopped from paying dividends or bonuses, he said.
The commission called it a "comprehensive response" to the crisis.
It outlined five areas of action "designed to break the vicious circle between doubts over the sustainability of sovereign debt, the stability of the banking system and the European Union's growth prospects".
Mr Barroso said the plan "charts Europe's way out of the economic crisis".
"Reactive and piecemeal responses to different aspects of the crisis are no longer sufficient," he said.
The plan calls for five policy actions:

Decisive action on Greece so that "all doubt is removed" about the country's economic sustainability. This includes freeing up the latest tranche of bailout funds
Implementing measures agreed in July, which include increasing the size of the EFSF to 440bn euros ($607bn; £385bn) and accelerating the launch of its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism
Co-ordinated action on strengthening Europe's banks. Banks should set aside more assets to cover losses through private funding or national governments if necessary. If this is still not adequate, they can tap into the EFSF, but if they do they will not be allowed to pay dividends of bonuses
Speeding up policies to enhance growth and stability, such as free trade agreements
Building greater integration for economic governance across the eurozone.

Greek losses Late on Tuesday, Slovakia voted against increasing the powers of the EFSF - the only one of the 17 members of the eurozone to do so.
However, internal political wrangling was behind the no vote, and observers expect a fresh vote before the end of this week.
In addition to expanding the EFSF's powers, the measures agreed in July by eurozone leaders also included private lenders taking a 21% hit on loans to the Greek government.
However, investors now believe both these measures are inadequate. They are calling for the bailout fund to be increased towards 2 trillion euros, and believe private investors will be forced to take a much bigger hit than the 21% suggested.
The leaders also agreed in July to a second bailout package for Greece worth 109bn euros.
The commission, along with the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, has been in Athens deciding whether to release the latest tranche of funds from the first bailout agreed in 2010.
On Tuesday, the three bodies agreed measures that Greece needs to take to bring down its debt levels and said they were likely to release the 8bn euros that country needs to pay its bills.
Leaders have been heavily criticised, particularly by investors, for not taking decisive action to end the crisis.
However, there is feeling now that such action will be forthcoming, analysts say, with all eyes on a summit of EU leaders on 23 October and a G20 meeting in Cannes at the beginning of November.

Slovak parties in talks after bailout fund rejection

2011-10-12T09:10:00.003-07:00

Prime Minister Radicova lost the support of former coalition partner Richard Sulik

Political parties in Slovakia are in talks on their next step a day after parliament dramatically rejected plans to expand the EU bailout fund.

It is unclear whether a new coalition will be formed or early elections will be called after the existing government collapsed over the vote.
The Slovak president is cutting short a visit to Asia to supervise efforts to form a new government.
Correspondents say a new vote on the fund is likely by the end of this week.
Slovakia is the last eurozone state to vote on ratifying the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
It is proposed to expand the EFSF's effective lending capacity to 440bn euros ($600bn; £383bn), as well as empowering it to buy eurozone government debt and offer credit lines to member states and to banks.
Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova failed to pass the bill on Tuesday when a junior partner in her coalition, Richard Sulik's free-market Freedom and Solidarity party, refused to back it.
Top EU officials urged the country on Wednesday to ratify the bill swiftly.
"We call upon all parties in the Slovak parliament to rise above the positioning of short-term politics and seize the next occasion to ensure a swift adoption of the new agreement," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a joint statement.
Ratification expected

“Start Quote

The feet of many Europeans stamp impatiently but these changes - however desirable - cannot be just nodded through”

Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor

Sovereignty and the European project

Freedom and Solidarity asked why Slovakia's taxpayers should be asked to help cover the debts of richer countries.

Many Slovaks feel their country - the second poorest in the eurozone - should not have to bail out countries like Greece, correspondents say.
However, the EFSF stands a good chance of being ratified at a new vote because the main social democrat opposition (Smer), which abstained on Tuesday in order to bring down the government, actually backs the fund.
"We're saying 'no' to a rightist government, but we're saying 'yes' to the rescue fund," Smer leader Robert Fico said during the debate.
Michal Lukac, spokesman for Ms Radicova's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, said the party wanted to vote again on the EFSF "as soon as possible, ideally on Thursday".
"Everything depends on whether an agreement with Smer is reached," he added.
Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic is expected to return from his Asian trip on Thursday, the next day when parliament is due to meet.
He will dismiss Prime Minister Radicova and her government as they lost a confidence vote on Tuesday, tied to the EFSF vote.
Mr Gasparovic may also name a new prime minister, while early elections are an option if approved by parliament.

'Underpants bomber' Abdulmutallab pleads guilty

2011-10-12T09:10:00.001-07:00

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces eight charges, including terrorism

A Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a US-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009 has told his trial in Detroit that he is pleading guilty to all charges.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, told a judge he was admitting all eight counts against him, including terrorism and attempted murder.
Abdulmutallab was badly burned when a bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate fully, prosecutors say.
Almost 300 people were on the flight with him from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Abdulmutallab will be sentenced on 12 January 2012 but the BBC's Jonny Dymond, in Washington, says this is now a formality - Abdulmutallab will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Al-Qaeda links US Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds verified that Abdulmutallab understood his right to silence before asking him if he wished to make a plea.
"Do I understand correctly that you wish to waive that right [in order] to plead guilty to all the charges in the indictment?" she asked.
"Yes," the defendant replied.
He told the court the bomb was a "blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims".
"The US should be warned that if they continue to kill and support those who kill innocent Muslims, then the US should await a great calamity... or God will strike them directly," he said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen, said it was behind the attack on 25 December 2009.
US investigators have said Abdulmutallab told them he was working for AQAP and had received the bomb from them, as well as training.
US and Yemeni officials have linked Abdulmutallab to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, whom he is said to have met while in Yemen before the attack.
Abdulmutallab flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit.
He was already on a US watch list, but not a no-fly list.
Passengers had to put out the fire after the bomb failed to detonate fully, the court heard on Monday.
Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.
Abdulmutallab was denied a request to ban statements he made while being treated for burns at a hospital, as well as other material, from appearing at trial.
During the first day of his trial, on Monday, prosecutor Jonathan Tukel showed the court a picture of the remains of the burnt underwear which contained the explosive device.
The court also saw video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission.