Black Friday Shooting: Shopper Shot At San Leandro Walmart During Attempted Robbery

San Leandro Patch:

A 20-year-old Oakland man was named as one of several suspects in a shooting that happened during a Black Friday robbery in a Walmart store parking lot in San Leandro.

Police arrived at the scene at 15555 Hesperian Boulevard at around 1:50 a.m. and found a man had been shot, and his family members had detained a suspect, who police identified Friday afternoon as Tony Phillips of Oakland.

Read the whole story: San Leandro Patch

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/black-friday-shooting_n_1113651.html

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Clean air, water rules spark different responses (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Large and small companies have told Republican-led congressional committees what the party wants to hear: dire predictions of plant closings and layoffs if the Obama administration succeeds with plans to further curb air and water pollution.

But their message to financial regulators and investors conveys less gloom and certainty.

The administration itself has clouded the picture by withdrawing or postponing some of the environmental initiatives that industry labeled as being among the most onerous.

Still, Republicans plan to make what they say is regulatory overreach a 2012 campaign issue, taking aim at President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and an aggressive Environmental Protection Agency.

"Republicans will be talking to voters this campaign season about how to keep Washington out of the way, so that job creators can feel confident again to create jobs for Americans," said Joanna Burgos, a spokeswoman for the House Republican campaign organization.

The Associated Press compared the companies' congressional testimony to company reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reports to the SEC consistently said the impact of environmental proposals is unknown or would not cause serious financial harm to a firm's finances.

Companies can legitimately argue that their less gloomy SEC filings are correct, since most of the tougher anti-pollution proposals have not been finalized. And their officials' testimony before congressional committees was sometimes on behalf of ? and written by ? trade associations, a perspective that can differ from an individual company's view.

But the disparity in the messages shows that in a political environment, business has no misgivings about describing potential economic horror stories to lawmakers.

"As an industry, we have said this before, we face a potential regulatory train wreck," Anthony Earley Jr., then the executive chairman of DTE Energy in Michigan, told a House committee on April 15. "Without the right policy, we could be headed for disaster."

The severe economic consequences, he said, would be devastating to the electric utility's customers, especially Detroit residents who "simply cannot afford" higher rates.

Earley, who is now chairman and CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., said if the EPA had its way, coal-fired plants would be replaced with natural gas ? leading to a spike in gas prices. He said he was testifying for the electric industry, not just his company.

But in its quarterly report to the SEC, Detroit-based DTE, which serves 3 million utility customers in Michigan, said that it was "reviewing potential impacts of the proposed and recently finalized rules, but is not able to quantify the financial impact ... at this time."

Skiles Boyd, a DTE vice president for environmental issues, said in an interview that the testimony was meant to convey the potential economic hardship on ratepayers ? while the SEC report focused on the company's financial condition.

"It's two different subjects," he said.

Another congressional witness, Jim Pearce of chemical company FMC Corp., told a House hearing last Feb. 9: "The current U.S. approach to regulating greenhouse gases ... will lead U.S. natural soda ash producers to lose significant business to our offshore rivals...." Soda ash is used to produce glass, and is a major component of the company's business..

But in its annual report covering 2010 and submitted to the SEC 13 days after the testimony, the company said it was "premature to make any estimate of the costs of complying with un-enacted federal climate change legislation, or as yet un-implemented federal regulations in the United States." The Philadelphia-based company did not respond to a request for comment..

California Rep. Henry Waxman, the senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the SEC filings "show that the anti-regulation rhetoric in Washington is political hot air with little or no connection to reality."

House Republicans have conducted dozens of hearings, and passed more than a dozen bills to stop proposed environmental rules. So far, all the GOP bills have gone nowhere in the Democratic-run Senate.

"I will see to it, to the best of my ability, to try to stop everything," California Sen . Barbara Boxer, the Democratic chairman of the Senate's environment committee, vowed in reference to GOP legislation aimed at reining in the EPA. She predicted Republicans "will lose seats over this."

The Obama administration has reconsidered some of the environmental proposals in response to the drumbeat from business groups. In September, the president scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog. Last May, EPA delayed indefinitely regulations to reduce toxic pollution from boilers and incinerators.

James Rubright, CEO of Rock-Tenn Co., a Norcross, Ga.-based producer of corrugated-and-consumer packaging, told a House panel in September that a variety of EPA, job safety and chemical security regulations would require "significant capital investment" ? money that "otherwise go to growth in manufacturing capacity and the attendant production of jobs."

Rubright conveyed a consulting firm's conclusion that EPA's original boiler proposal before the Obama administration withdrew it in May would have cost the forest products industry about $7 billion, and the packaging industry $6.8 billion.

Another industry study, he said, warned that original boiler rule would have placed 36 mills at risk and would have jeopardized more than 20,000 jobs in the pulp and paper industries ? about 18 percent of the work force.

But a month before his testimony_ and three months after EPA withdrew its boiler proposal ? Rock-Tenn told the SEC that "future compliance with these environmental laws and regulations will not have a material adverse effect on our results or operations, financial condition or cash flows." The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_go_co/us_clean_air_politics

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Syria faces Arab sanctions deadline over monitors (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Syria faces a Friday deadline to sign an Arab deal allowing monitors into the country or incur sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights, curbing trade and stopping deals with the central bank.

Arab foreign ministers warned in Cairo that unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday.

Under a November 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centers, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international media into the country.

Since then hundreds of people, including civilians, security forces and army deserters, have been killed as the unrest which the United Nations says has claimed at least 3,500 lives since March continued unabated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition group, said at least 47 people were killed in Syria on Thursday, including 16 soldiers and 17 army deserters, mostly around the rebellious city of Homs and near the town of Rastan to the north.

The violence has prompted former ally Turkey to bluntly tell President Bashar al-Assad to step down and led France to propose "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to help transport medicines or other supplies to civilians in need.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he would discuss the idea with the Arab League but a source at the 22-member body said the proposal was not brought up at the Cairo meeting.

"In the case that Syria does not sign the protocol ... or that it later violates the commitments that it entails, and does not stop the killing or does not release the detainees ... (Arab League officials) will meet on Saturday to consider sanctions on Syria," the Arab ministers said in a statement.

They said possible sanctions, which were not intended to affect ordinary Syrians, included suspending flights to Syria, stopping dealings with the central bank, freezing Syrian government bank accounts and halting financial dealings.

They could also decide to stop commercial trade with the Syrian government "with the exception of strategic commodities so as not to impact the Syrian people," the statement said.

Syria's economy is already reeling from the eight months of unrest, aggravated by U.S. and European sanctions on oil exports and several state businesses.

"HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS"

After months in which the international community has seemed determined to avoid direct entanglement in a core Middle East country, the diplomatic consensus seems to be changing.

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership two weeks ago, while this week the prime minister of neighboring Turkey - a NATO member with the military wherewithal to mount a cross-border operation - told Assad to quit and said he should be mindful of the fate of fallen dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.

France became the first major power to seek international intervention in Syria when it called for "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to alleviate civilian suffering.

A Western diplomatic source said the French plan, with or without approval from Damascus, could link Syrian civilian centers to the frontiers of Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport.

Its aim would enable transport of humanitarian supplies or medicines to a population that is suffering.

Juppe insisted the plan fell short of a military intervention, but acknowledged that humanitarian convoys would need armed protection.

"There are two possible ways: That the international community, Arab League and the United Nations can get the regime to allow these humanitarian corridors," he told French radio. "But if that isn't the case we'd have to look at other solutions ... with international observers."

Asked if humanitarian convoys would need military protection, he said: "Of course... by international observers, but there is no question of military intervention in Syria."

"MOST DANGEROUS PHASE"

The Syrian Observatory said 15 army deserters were killed in clashes with the military west of Rastan and in raids by security forces. Eleven military and security personnel were killed by army deserters in the city of Houla, it said.

Alongside the mainly peaceful protests, armed insurgents have increasingly attacked military targets in recent weeks.

State media have reported the funerals of 34 soldiers and police in the last four days. Since the outbreak of the uprising officials have blamed armed groups for the violence and say 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.

"The Syrian crisis may or may not have entered its final phase, but it undoubtedly has entered its most dangerous one to date," the International Crisis Group said.

"Many in Syria and abroad are now banking on the regime's imminent collapse and wagering that all then will be for the better. That is a luxury and optimism they cannot afford."

Washington repeated an appeal on Wednesday for U.S. citizens to leave Syria: "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," the embassy said on its website.

Assad, 46, seems prepared to fight it out, playing on fears of a sectarian war if Syria's complex ethno-sectarian mosaic shatters and relying on support of senior officials and the military to suppress the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

However many experts say Assad, who can depend mainly on the loyalty of two elite units dominated by his Alawite minority community, cannot maintain current military operations without cracks emerging in the mainly Sunni Muslim army.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad and Ayman Samir in Cairo, John Irish in Paris; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/ts_nm/us_syria

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Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart Vacation in Hawaii

Just how serious are things getting between Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart? The pair vacationed together this week in Hawaii... along with J. Lo's three-year old twins!

The 24-year old backup dancer was "great" with the children, an insider tells Us Weekly, detailing how he "was twirling them around and doing flips with Emme and she seemed very comfortable with him," while "Jennifer got a chance to sit back and relax while Casper took over and played."

Lopez came under pretty heavy fire this week by shilling so hard for Fiat during her American Music Awards that even Kim Kardashian referred to it "too much." Okay, not really. But John Legend called out his fellow artist.

But Jennifer's personal life is going a lot smoother. Following the AMAs, witnesses spotted Lopez "grinding in Smart's lap, giving him a kiss and rubbing his head" at Greystone Manor in West Hollywood. He's a lucky fella.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/jennifer-lopez-and-casper-smart-vacation-in-hawaii/

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Expanded museum gives boost to Tel Aviv art scene (Reuters)

TEL AVIV (Reuters) ? Tel Aviv's recently expanded modern art museum, with its dazzling new building no less an attraction than the art showcased inside, has given a home to hundreds of displaced Israeli works and helped boost the city's cultural scene.

The new wing, designed by Massachusetts architect Preston Scott Cohen, has doubled the size of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art by 19,000 square meters (200,000 square feet) and lured a growing number of art fans through its new, triangular concrete and glass complex since its November 3 unveiling.

"There has never been an exhibit that fully reflected Israeli art, and now there is," said the museum's acting director Shuli Kislev. "Tel Aviv received a wonderful gift."

The reason for the four-year, $50 million building project, she said, was to provide a space for the collection of Israeli art that was growing in the museum's storage rooms.

Many of the newly displayed pieces include elements of Israeli society, from military conscription to the agricultural communes known as kibbutzim.

And alongside the locals, works by renown German artist Anselm Kieffer, which were inspired by Jewish faith and mysticism, make up a special exhibit for the new wing's opening.

But perhaps as much a pull as the artwork is the building itself.

Individual, rectangular galleries are leveled around an 87-foot-tall, spiraling atrium known as the "lightfall," where sunlight is reflected against angled walls from top to bottom. Visitors can see through the atrium to other floors and halls.

The museum is next door to Israel's opera house and a short walk from both the Tel Aviv cinema and the national theater -- which reopened this month after years of renovation, adding another spark to the country's cultural hub.

Israeli video artist Shah Marcus said the museum's addition brings tremendous exposure for him and his peers.

A four-and-a-half minute video of him driving through his hometown of Petal Tikva, waving like a celebrity from a convertible to indifferent pedestrians, is on display in the new wing.

"A lot of curators and art dealers have come to the museum, saw my work here and took it all over the world," he said. "It is very important for the Israeli art scene."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/arts/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/stage_nm/us_art_israel_exhibition

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VIDEO: Get a First Look at the American Idol Auditions (omg!)

Too busy feasting on turkey to catch the first look at the American Idol auditions Thursday? We've got you covered!

Check out photos from American Idol

Check out the new promo below, which features audition footage ? but not actual performances. Still, you can see which hopeful gets to slow-dance with Steven Tyler. Oh, and there are tears, naturally.

Meanwhile, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe tells the Associated Press that there won't be any changes this year after the major revamp the show underwent last year. "I'm not sure that we want to make too many more tweaks this year," he says.

Season 11 of American Idol premieres Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10/9c after the NFC Championship game on Fox.

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_video_first_look_american_idol_auditions155900116/43712536/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/video-first-look-american-idol-auditions-155900116.html

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Germany deflects calls for ECB to have more power

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, right, during a press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, right, during a press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she speaks to the media during a joint press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures as he speaks to the media during a joint press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures as he speaks to the media during a joint press conference with Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, unseen, in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, gestures as she speaks to the media during a joint press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday, Nov 24, 2011. The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are set for debate on the European Central Bank's role in the region's debt crisis and on how to align eurozone economic policies. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

STRASBOURG, France (AP) ? Germany deflected calls for the European Central Bank to play a bigger role in solving Europe's debt crisis but won the backing of France and Italy to unite the troubled 17-nation eurozone more closely.

Europe's biggest economy and the main financier of the eurozone's three bailouts has argued against allowing the ECB to use its firepower to ease a debt crisis that's shown alarming signs recently of spreading to big economies, like Italy.

Instead of using the ECB's cash-printing power, the eurozone's richest countries decided to use political tools to dig their way out of the crisis: Germany and France agreed Thursday to push for changes to EU treaties to bring the eurozone's economic policies more in line with each other.

"In the treaty changes, we are dealing with the question of a fiscal union, a deeper political cooperation ... there will be proposals on this, but they have nothing to do with the ECB," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday in Strasbourg, France after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italy's new premier Mario Monti.

Many think the ECB is the only institution capable of calming frayed market nerves and Merkel's continued dismissal of a greater ECB role knocked market sentiment and stocks all round Europe fell again after a morning rebound.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money. However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing, warning that it lets the more profligate countries off the hook for their bad practices. In addition, it conjures up bad memories of hyperinflation in Germany in the 1920s.

The ECB itself is reluctant to take on a bigger firefighting role. Its president, Mario Draghi, said earlier this month it was "pointless" for governments to depend on ECB bond buys to keep their borrowing costs down for any length of time.

ECB executive council member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said Thursday that "euro area governments cannot expect the ECB to finance public deficits."

The ECB is "committed to its mandate to preserve price stability over the medium term ? it is not the fiscal lender of last resort to sovereigns," Gonzalez-Paramo said in a speech in Oxford, England, according to prepared remarks released by the bank.

For now, the French, German and Italian leaders agreed on with that current rules were not stringent enough and needed beefing up to prevent a repeat of the debt crisis that's rocked the eurozone for nearly two years.

Sarkozy said "propositions for the modification of treaties" would be presented in the coming days.

He wouldn't elaborate on what these changes may be but said they would be ready in time for the next EU leaders summit on December 9. Treaty changes are, more often than not, a notoriously laborious endeavor.

Merkel said the treaty changes would "make clear that we must take steps toward a fiscal union to express the conviction that we know policies must be more closely coordinated if you have a common, stable currency."

"It is political confidence in Europe that has been lost ? we can only win it back politically," Merkel said.

This was the first meeting of the three leaders since Monti took over last week following mounting market concerns over Italy's huge debt, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Europe's current anti-crisis measures are too not big enough to deal with Italy's debt mountain.

Sarkozy said the three leaders had agreed to meet again "very soon" in Rome at Monti's invitation to continue their three-way dialogue.

The meeting comes amid signs that even Germany and France ? the eurozone's two biggest economies ? are not immune from the crisis that's already seen three relatively small countries bailed out.

All three leaders said they would do what it takes to stabilize the situation and save the euro.

"We want the euro, we want a strong, stable euro ... we will do everything to defend it," Merkel said.

France has been reluctant to resort to changes to EU treaties to improve the way the eurozone countries work together and set policies and prevent future crises. Germany had pushed for such changes, saying voluntary pledges by national governments are no longer enough to boost market confidence.

Merkel also maintained her opposition to the European Commission's new drive for eurobonds.

Germany has opposed the use of eurobonds and has long called on fiscally wayward member states to clean up their own houses with as little outside intervention as possible. A big worry for Germany is that its low borrowing costs would get diluted if eurobonds came into issue and it would then be forced to pay higher rates to tap bond markets.

"It would be completely the wrong signal to lose sight entirely now of these differing interest rates, because they are a pointer to where something still needs to be done and where we need to go further," she said.

Monti, meanwhile, reiterated his pledge to balance Italy's budget by 2013 though he sidestepped the question on whether achieving that aim would require more austerity measures, and if so, whether it risked triggering a recession in the eurozone's third largest economy.

___

Geir Moulson in Berlin and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-24-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-f39be8ddfc304883a1ad742c756343f8

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Kate Major Checks Into Rehab

Kate Major of Jon Gosselin and Michael Lohan dating / restraining order fame has checked herself into rehab voluntarily. At least she'll be safe from Mike in there.

She will get treatment for alcohol abuse. Sources close to Kate tell TMZ she checked into a treatment center in Boca Raton, Fla., and will stay there for 90 days.

Kate made news last month when Lindsay's dad allegedly assaulted her when she failed to provide oral relief, then violated his no contact order twice ... MiLo was arrested a second time for that violation, and trying to flee the police.

Michael Lohan 911 Call

This 911 call was made by Kate before the first of the back-to-back busts.

Major made the decision after an alleged drunken plane fight a few weeks back. Sources close to Kate feels that drinking changes her into somebody she isn't.

This may also help explain why in the HELL someone dates Michael Lohan.

We assume (and really hope) Kate is not really pregnant by MiLo.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/kate-major-checks-into-rehab/

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Griffin Headphones Help You Protect Your Child?s Hearing

I saw a news report recently that said kids as young as 6 were requesting electronic devices for Christmas. ?When they’re still tiny, you can distract your kid with the pretend device that let’s them hear the kitty say “meow”, but eventually, they’re going to want a real device. ?Some MP3 players have built-in volume-limiting [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/11/22/griffin-headphones-that-help-you-protect-your-childs-hearing/

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Spaniards vote to find way out of crisis (Reuters)

MADRID (Reuters) ? Spaniards reeling from an economic crisis voted on Sunday in an election expected to throw out the ruling Socialists and bring in a center-right party which promises only harsher austerity measures.

A grim mood dominated as people went to the polls against a background of soaring unemployment, cuts in public spending and a debt crisis that has put Spain in the front line of the euro zone's fight for survival.

"Being a civil servant I'm not optimistic about it as we're already seeing the cuts coming through," said Jose Vasquez, 45, who was among the early voters in the capital Madrid.

"We can choose the sauce they will cook us in, but we're still going to be cooked."

Pre-election opinion polls gave the conservative People's Party (PP), led by Mariano Rajoy, an unassailable lead over the Socialists, who have led Spain from boom to bust in seven years in power.

Voters are angry with the Socialists for failing to act swiftly to prevent the slide in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy and then for belatedly bringing in austerity measures that have slashed wages, benefits and jobs.

Yet people now seem resigned to further cuts, including in health and education, in the midst of a European debt crisis that has toppled the governments of Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Italy and pushed Spain's borrowing costs to critical levels.

"At least we'll see a change in stance. They (the PP) seem more technical to me, it seems they understand the situation better and are more serious than the guys we have now," said Juan Costas, a 73-year-old retiree.

Spain's bleak economic outlook hung over the election campaign. One in five Spanish workers are without a job and its economy is threatening to slip into recession next year for the second time in three years.

"Today the nightmare is over," the right-wing Gaceta newspaper said in a front-page headline.

The Vanguardia newspaper alluded to Spain's precarious position in the wider euro zone crisis. "Europe is watching us," read its banner headline.

Rajoy, who led his party in two previous failed parliamentary election campaigns, is likely to win an absolute majority giving him a clear mandate to enforce the deep and painful cuts seen as necessary to balance Spain's books.

"I'm prepared to do what Spaniards want," Rajoy said after he voted in the wealthy Madrid neighborhood of Aravaca.

The 56-year-old will not be sworn in until December but he is likely to swiftly lay out his plans during the government handover to reassure fraught markets.

Underlining the fragile situation, Spain's borrowing costs hit euro-era highs during the election campaign, almost reaching the 7 percent level at which other euro zone nations like Ireland and Greece sought international bail-outs. Growth has stalled.

FAREWELL TO SOCIALISTS

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided against running for a third term as his approval ratings sank.

The Socialists chose veteran politician Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba as their leader for the campaign, but he struggled to differentiate himself from Zapatero, having served in his cabinet for years.

Spain joined the euro in 1999 and enjoyed years of prosperity and a real estate boom driven by cheap credit. When the property market crashed in 2007 the government, companies and consumers all found themselves over their heads in debt.

"We have to do something. What we were doing was not enough, things were just getting worse and worse. We have a frightful situation with 5 million unemployed and a million and a half with no income. Thank God I haven't lost my job," said Luis Escobar, a 50-year-old hotel worker.

"The best social policy is to create jobs. The guys in power haven't done anything so if you want things to change you have to do something," he said, adding that he would vote for the People's Party.

Some regions, notably southern Andalucia, heartland of Spain's tourist industry, have been hit worse than others.

In the Basque Country, people were voting for the first time in years without the threat if violence after the separatist guerrilla group ETA announced last month that it was giving up its armed struggle.

The traditionally prosperous northeastern region has been relatively unscathed by the economic storm and most voters were expected to back pro-independence parties.

"For the time being I've got a pretty good pension and the crisis hasn't affected me yet. Of course it will reach me," said 81-year-old Laureano Agirremota in the industrial city of Bilbao. "I've always voted the same, for the Basque Nationalist Party."

(Additional reporting by Fiona Ortiz, Sonia Dowsett in Madrid and Arantza Goyoaga in Bilbao, writing by Angus MacSwan, editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111120/wl_nm/us_spain_election

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Public asked to help in fight against malaria

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2011) ? IBM's Watson computing system broke new ground earlier this year when it defeated two celebrated human competitors on the Jeopardy! game show. Now, The Scripps Research Institute is hoping to do something equally novel but more critical to human health with part of the prize money from that tournament: Find a cure for drug-resistant malaria. And it's asking for the public's help.

To that end, Scripps Research and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are encouraging anyone in the world with a personal computer to join World Community Grid, a sort of "supercomputer of the people" that will crunch numbers and perform simulations for "GO Fight Against Malaria" -- the project that Scripps Research and IBM have launched at http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org.

World Community Grid is fed by spare computing power from the nearly 2 million PCs that have been volunteered so far by 575,000 people in more than 80 countries. It gives each PC small computing assignments to perform when the devices aren't otherwise being used by its owners, then sends the results to scientists seeking a faster way to cure disease, find renewable energy materials, create clean water techniques, or develop healthier food staples.

Scripps Research, which has already used World Community Grid to discover two promising new inhibitors of HIV to advance the treatment of multi-drug-resistant AIDS, is now taking on the malaria project, as well. By tapping into World Community Grid -- which turns seven years of age today -- Scripps Research scientists hope to compress 100 years of computations normally necessary for the effort into just one year. The scientists will use this resource to more quickly evaluate millions of compounds that may advance the development of drugs to cure mutant, drug-resistant strains of malaria. Data from the experiments will then be made available to the public.

"Working on malaria started as a hobby that I advanced during nights and weekends for a couple years, when I wasn't working on FightAIDS@Home," said Alex L. Perryman, Ph.D., a research associate in Scripps Research Professor Arthur Olson's lab. "With persistence and a lot of help from IBM and from fellow Scripps Research scientists, we are now ready to launch the largest computational research project ever performed against drug-resistant malaria."

Said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and President of IBM's International Foundation: "Welcoming a second project on World Community Grid from The Scripps Research Institute speaks volumes about the Institute's caliber, and demonstrates that it shares our commitment to make the world a better place. Curing the most malicious strains of malaria will be a boon to so many people on the planet, and will lead to conditions in which societies everywhere can flourish. A project like this illustrates the way in which we are committed in particular to places like Africa, Asia and South America, which have emerged onto the world stage in recent years."

There is no reliable cure or vaccine for the prevention and treatment of all forms of malaria -- particularly the drug-resistant strains caused by Plasmodium falciparum, which kills more people than any other parasite and is of particular interest to the researchers.

In 2006, 247 million people became infected with malaria. Nearly 1 million deaths are caused by malaria each year and 85 percent of those are children, who die from the disease at a rate of one every 30 seconds. In fact, malaria is the leading cause of death in Africa for those under age five. According to the World Health Organization, malaria is both a disease of poverty and a cause of poverty; survivors are often subject to impaired learning, school absences, lost work and increased economic distress. Where prevalent, the disease can account for 40 percent of all public health costs.

Earlier this year, scientists for seven World Community Grid projects received half the $1 million first-place prize from a Jeopardy! game show tournament that saw IBM's Watson computing system compete successfully against two former human champions. (Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM scientists who set out to overcome a longstanding scientific challenge -- building a computing system that rivals a human's ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence.)

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/RJocLMnKEAI/111119153527.htm

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Put A Fork In It (talking-points-memo)

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How to Weigh a Million Dollar Bills Without a Scale (Or a Million Bucks) [Video]

In physics, approximations are important. Developing a predictive model for how something will move/behave/react based on information from another object or scenario can provide a helpful frame of reference. To illustrate this point, the always excellent YouTube series MinutePhysics shows us how to weigh a million dollar bills without having a scale, a single bill, or the knowledge of how much a dollar weighs. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/f-xc9xWK6hs/how-to-weigh-a-million-dollar-bills-without-actually-weighing-a-million-dollar-bills

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On Jupiter's Moon Europa: Oceans, Lakes -- and Even Life? (Time.com)

For a scientific paper, the study just published online by Nature starts out more like a bit of poetry ? or maybe it's more like a romance novel. "Europa," it begins, "the innermost icy satellite of Jupiter, has a tortured, young surface." That just about sums it up, though. Europa was discovered by Galileo almost exactly 400 years, ago, when he first pointed his primitive telescope at the night sky. But it wasn't until the Galileo space probe arrived in the 1990's for close-up surveillance that astronomers began to understand its true nature ? a rocky core surrounded by a world-spanning ocean scores of miles deep, and topped with a thick coating of cracked, gnarled ice.

That being the case, and liquid water being considered an essential element for life, scientists quickly realized that Europa could harbor its own, home-grown biology ? in principle, anyway. And that triggered an intense focus on understanding details of exactly how Europa is put together. The new paper is the latest leap forward: according to lead author Britney Schmidt, of the University of Texas at Austin, there's evidence for a giant lake encased within Europa's shell of ice, above the ocean that lies deeper. And that might raise the odds of European life at least a little bit.(See NASA's 3-D photos of the Sun.)

To understand why, you first need to understand how liquid water can possibly exist on a world nearly a half-billion miles from the warmth of the Sun (Earth, by contrast, is only a fifth as distant). The answer is that Europa's rocky core is constantly flexing under the tidal force of Jupiter's gravity and the gravitational plucking of the other large moons as they pass by. The friction generates heat, just as a rubber ball heats up with you squeeze it rapidly in your hand. All that heat keeps the overlying water from freezing, until you get relatively close to the surface.

Put solid ice on top of a sloshing ocean and you get cracks, which are clearly evident in the images from the Galileo probe. But a closer look at those images reveals dark, patches of especially rough surface that planetary scientists have come to call "chaos terrain," appropriately enough. "We've always thought it represented some sort of interaction between ice and water," said Schmidt at a NASA press conference. "But how it works wasn't clear." One big source of confusion: while chaos terrain typically has huge icebergs embedded in a brownish material known as "matrix," some patches are sunken below the surface by many hundreds of feet, while others bulge outward. "Why," asked Schimdt rhetorically, "are they so different?" (Watch TIME's video "Galileo and the Year of Astronomy.")

By looking at vaguely comparable situations on Earth where warmer water lies underneath ice ? ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica floating on warmer water, land-based glaciers overlying active volcanoes that melt the ice from below ? Schmidt and her co-authors came up with a theory that seems to fit. "Imagine," she said, "the surface of Europa, made of thick, fractured ice." Water, warmed by hot spots at the bottom of the sea, rises up through the cracks, forming a temporary lake, just a mile or so below the surface. The water weakens the overlying ice, causing it to slump; huge icebergs on the surface sink into the matrix, a quicksand-like pool of crushed ice, rolling and tumbling as they go. Then the lake gradually freezes, expands, and pushes the jumbled bergs outward again. (See iconic images of Earth from outer space.)

All of this bulging and collapsing constantly rebuilds Europa's surface, which is what the scientists mean when they call it young. But it also adds up to a sort of grand unified theory of that surface. It explains the depressions, like a feature called Thera Macula, where a lake presumably sits; and it explains bulges like Conamara Chaos, where a lake has refrozen. "It's very exciting," said planetary Louise Prockter, of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, who appeared at the press conference as an independent expert. "It ties together a lot of loose ends."

Most of them have to do with the dynamics of ice and water, but another mystery has long troubled Europa watchers. You do need water for life, but you also need organic chemicals, and while the oceans are presumably rich in salts and other minerals, that's not enough. The life-building chemicals could easily have been delivered by the hydrocarbon-rich comets that occasionally pummel planets and moons alike ? but they would somehow have to make their way down into the oceans. The existence of near-surface lakes implies a network of cracks that could provide such a route. (See pictures of the universe, put to scale.)

Put it all together and you're still a long way from proving there's even primitive life in Europa's ocean. But the prospect is tantalizing enough that a Europa lander that would drill down to put a probe into the subsurface ocean got a high priority in a recent advisory report to NASA. Within a couple of decades ? assuming NASA's budget survives the next few years without harsh cuts ? the mystery of what lies beneath Europa's young and tortured surface could finally be solved.

See pictures of deep space from the Hubble telescope.

Read about finding an ocean of fire on Jupiter's Moon Io.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpwwwtimecomtimehealtharticle08599209964300htmlxidrssnationyahoo/43631911/SIG=12ld6g2tp/*http%3A//www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2099643,00.html?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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Norfolk schools ought to call in the Superman of roads and rail (hamptonroads)

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Evaluation of Ron Paul's Platform -- Anti-Union, Pro-Wealthy (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Hopefuls Mitt Romney , Herman Cain , Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich were recently determined to hold a four-way tie for the front-running position in the race for the GOP nod in Iowa. Political platforms are usually loaded with flowery speech and can be hard to decode. This article interprets Paul's platform documents and shows what they might mean, in plain English instead of political-speak.

Abortion

I'm a doctor. I saw an abortion in medical school and it grossed me out so now I am pro-life. I have Christian values on life beginning at conception and want to write that into law despite the fact it would outlaw many forms of birth control, which should be obvious to me since I am an ob/gyn. I'll repeal Roe v. Wade. I don't believe in the right to an abortion and I'll make sure you can't have one.

Health Care

I'll make it easier for you to get health care but there's still some privatization there. I am against universal health care. Don't get sick after you're born because my commitment level drops a notch.

Economy

I want to get rid of the Fed and stabilize the dollar. I believe in balanced budgets and not letting corporations control the President. Let's get rid of estate, capital gains and income taxes even though that mostly benefits the rich.

Military

Troops should only go to war when necessary, have proper tools, clear objectives, and guaranteed benefits I'll get rid of the Patriot Act, obey the law, and keep TSA officers from groping and ogling you.

Gun Rights

Law-abiding people should be allowed to own guns. Pilots should be able to carry them to defend their planes.

Labor

Unions are evil. I'm all about right-to-work laws that will crush them.

Immigration

Why are we messing around in other countries when we have stuff to fix here? Secure the border and stop reducing American rights as a cop-out.

Energy

Dig up our resources. Build nuclear plants. Get rid of the EPA but watch out, corporations - if you pollute something you'll answer to every citizen you affect.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111116/us_ac/10457847_evaluation_of_ron_pauls_platform__antiunion_prowealthy

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Gaming Everything ? Blog Archive ? 2011 VGAs ? all nominees ...

November 16th, 2011 Posted in 360, 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii Posted By: Valay

Spike TV has finally sent out the full list of nominees for the 2011 VGAs. Categories include ?Studio of the Year?, ?Best Original Game?, and ?Best Graphics?.

Additionally, the company has announced that the Zelda series will be the first franchise to be inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame. Viewers can expect brand new footage of Tom Clancy?s Rainbow 6 Patriots, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and ?BioShock Infinite?.

The full list of nominees can be found after the break, along with the official press release.

Studio of the Year

Bethesda Game Studios
Naughty Dog
Rocksteady Studios
Valve

Best Xbox 360 Game

Batman: Arkham City
Forza Motorsport 4
Gears of War 3
Portal 2

Best PS3 Game

inFamous 2
Killzone 3
LittleBigPlanet 2
Uncharted 3

Best Wii Game

Epic Mickey
Kirby?s Return to Dream Land
Lost in Shadow
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Best PC Game

Battlefield 3
Minecraft
The Witcher 2
Portal 2

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Infinity Blade
Super Mario 3D Land
Jetpack Joyride

Best Shooter

Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Gears of War 3
RAGE

Best Action Adventure Game

Assassin?s Creed: Revelations
Batman: Arkham City
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception

Best RPG

Dark Souls
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dragon Age II
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Best Multiplayer

Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Gears of War 3
Portal 2

Best Individual Sports Game

Fight Night Champion
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters
Top Spin 4
Virtua Tennis 4

Best Team Sports Game

FIFA Soccer 12
NBA 2K12
NHL 12
MLB ?11: The Show

Best Driving Game

DiRT 3
Driver: San Francisco
Forza Motorsport 4
Need for Speed: The Run

Best Fighting Game

The King of Fighters XIII
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Mortal Kombat
WWE All Stars

Best Motion Game

Child of Eden
Dance Central 2
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Gunstringer

Best Independent Game

Bastion
Minecraft
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
The Binding of Isaac

Best Adapted Video Game

Back to the Future: The Game
Batman: Arkham City
Captain America: Super Soldier
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars

Best Original Game

Bastion
Batman: Arkham City
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Portal 2

Best Graphics

Batman: Arkham City
L.A. Noire
RAGE
Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception

Best Performance By a Human Male

J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson ? Portal 2
Mark Hamill as the Joker ? Batman: Arkham City
Nolan North as Nathan Drake ? Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception
Stephen Merchant as Wheatley ? Portal 2

Best Downloadable Game

Bastion
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Stacking
Trenched

Best DLC

Fallout: New Vegas ? Old World Blues
Mass Effect 2 ? Arrival
Mortal Kombat ? Freddy Krueger
Portal 2 ? Peer Review

GameTrailers.com Trailer of the Year

Assassin?s Creed: Revelations ? E3 2011 Trailer
Batman: Arkham City ? Hugo Strange Reveal Trailer
Dark Souls ? Ignite ?11 Debut Trailer
Dead Island ? GDC 11 Cinematic Trailer
Deus Ex: Human Revolution ? Purity First Infomercial
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ? In-Game Debut Trailoer
Hitman: Absolution ? E3 2011 Trailer
Prey 2 ? E3 2011 Trailer
Tomb Raider ? E3 2011 Trailer
Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception ? E3 2011 Trailer

Best Song In A Game

?Build that Wall (Zia?s Theme)? by Darren Korb ? Bastion
?Exile Vilify? by The National ? Portal 2
?I?m Not Calling You a Liar? by Florence + the Machine ? Dragon Age II
?Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)? by Darren Korb ? Bastion

Best Original Score

Bastion
Batman: Arkham City
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Portal 2

Most Anticipated Game

BioShock: Infinite
Diablo III
Halo 4
Mass Effect 3
The Last Guardian

Game of the Year

Batman: Arkham City
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Portal 2
Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception

Press release

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ? Spike TV today announced the creation of its first ever Video Game Hall of Fame Award. This annual honor will recognize the most memorable and innovative video game franchises in history. The inaugural recipient, ?The Legend of Zelda,(TM)? is one of the most influential and beloved gaming franchises of all time. The legendary series will take its rightful place as the first entry into the Video Game Hall of Fame, with a special tribute at the 2011 ?Video Game Awards? (#VGA) ? the network?s ninth annual live televised event to celebrate the best in games. Telecasting from Los Angeles, CA and featuring some of the most notable names in video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more, the two-hour event honoring the outstanding achievements within the video game industry over the past year will premiere LIVE on Spike TV, MTV 2 and Spike.com on Saturday, December 10 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

?The ?VGAs? always celebrate the best games of the year and previews the future with world premieres,? said Casey Patterson executive producer of the ?VGAs? and executive vice president of event production for Viacom Media Networks Entertainment Group. ?Now our Video Game Hall of Fame will recognize the game franchises throughout history that have brought the industry to where it is today.?

?It is only natural to start with ?Zelda,?? said Geoff Keighley, executive in charge, publisher relations, Spike. ??The Legend of Zelda? is a franchise that inspired many of us to see the potential of games when it debuted 25 years ago, one that has successfully transitioned from one game console generation to the next and has continually shown the narrative and artistic potential of the medium.?

?All of us at Nintendo are truly honored to have ?The Legend of Zelda? as the first inductee into Spike?s Video Game Hall of Fame,? said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America?s executive vice president of sales & marketing. ?As we mark the 25th anniversary of the ?Zelda? series, we look forward to the December 10th ?VGA? event as a very special way to celebrate with fans and SPIKE viewers around the globe.?

The 2011 ?Video Game Awards? will feature world premieres of the most anticipated games of 2012 and beyond. In addition to the previously announced exclusives debuts of BioWare?s next project, the next ?Alan Wake? game and ?Metal Gear Solid: Rising,? this year?s viewers will get the first look at footage from ?Tom Clancy?s Rainbow 6 Patriots,? ?Transformers: Fall of Cybertron? and Most Anticipated Game nominee, ?BioShock Infinite.? Additional exclusives will be announced in the coming weeks.

For additional information about other ?VGA? world exclusives and announcements, fans can log onto VGA.spike.com and get updates via Twitter @SPIKE_TV as well as the hashtag #VGA.

Leading the way with 12 nominations is ?Portal 2? by Valve. Rocksteady Studios? second adventure featuring the Dark Knight, ?Batman: Arkham City? garnered 10 nominations, while the third chapter in the Nathan Drake adventure, ?Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception? by Naughty Dog and independent game ?Bastion? rounded out the top most nominated games with 9 and 5 nods each, respectively.

Nominees for Spike TV?s 2011 ?Video Game Awards? were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of some of the most well-respected video game journalists from media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Game Informer Magazine, Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSpot, IGN and WIRED.

Below are several of the nominees and categories for Spike TV?s 2011 ?Video Game Awards.? For a full list, please go to VGA.spike.com.

GAME OF THE YEAR?Batman: Arkham City? (Warner Bros Interactive / Rocksteady Studios)?The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda Game Studios)?The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? (Nintendo)?Portal 2? (Valve)?Uncharted 3: Drake?s Deception? (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)

STUDIO OF THE YEARBethesda Game StudiosNaughty DogRocksteady StudiosValve

BEST SHOOTER?Battlefield 3? (Electronic Arts / DICE)?Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? (Activision / Infinity Ward / Sledgehammer Games)?Gears of War 3? (Microsoft Studios / Epic Games)?Rage? (Bethesda Softworks / Id Software)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME?Bastion? (Supergiant Games)?Minecraft? (Mojang)?Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP? (Capybara Games)?The Binding of Isaac? (Edmund McMillen)

For the first time, Viacom Media Networks will broaden the reach and impact of the 2011 ?VGAs? by simultaneously airing the show LIVE on both Spike TV and MTV2, as well as on Spike.com. Internationally, the ?VGAs? will air in over 100 countries and territories around the world. In addition, the show will include unique interactive opportunities only available to viewers during the initial live broadcast. Further details will be announced in the weeks to come.

Mark Burnett, Casey Patterson and Carol Donovan will serve as executive producers of Spike TV?s 2011 ?Video Game Awards.?

The presenting sponsors for the 2011 ?Video Game Awards? are the all-new Chevy Sonic, Dr Pepper TEN and KFC Hot Wings. Energizer? Ultimate Lithium is the associate sponsor, with AXE and Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol serving as digital sponsors.

Source: http://gamingeverything.com/11925/2011-vgas-all-nominees-announced/

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Stronger factories, lower prices lift economy (AP)

WASHINGTON ? U.S. manufacturing is recovering from a slump, and inflation may be peaking. The latest government reports suggest businesses and consumers may be seeing some relief after the economy stumbled earlier this year.

Industrial production rose in October at the fastest pace in three months. Factories made more trucks, electronics and business equipment.

At the same time, Americans paid less for gas, cars and computers last month as overall prices fell for the first time since June.

The data follow a strong report on retail sales in October and point to an economy that is growing at a solid pace in the October-December quarter. Still, the resurgence in the price of oil and a possible recession in Europe threaten to drain the economy's momentum.

"The continued resilience of manufacturing is encouraging, since this should be the sector most exposed to the global economic slowdown," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist with Capital Economics.

Output at the nation's factories, utilities and mines rose 0.7 percent last month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Factory output, the largest component of industrial production, increased a solid 0.5 percent. It was the fourth straight monthly gain.

Production of autos and auto parts surged. Business equipment rose for the sixth straight month. Electrical equipment, appliances and transportation equipment all climbed.

Manufacturers "are benefiting from the strong growth in emerging markets, and domestic businesses are confident enough in the future to continue expanding purchases of capital equipment," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a trade group.

Production was dragged down this spring after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disrupted key supply chains for automakers and other manufacturers. Rising food and gas costs and shaky financial markets caused consumers to cut back on big purchases.

The auto industry has rebounded to drive most of the growth in factory output. Many U.S. auto plants, which depend upon parts from Japan to produce various models, are seeing supply chains flow more freely.

Higher output at auto plants has allowed dealers to stock popular models that were in demand this spring. As a result, October sales were 7 percent higher than the same month last year. Light trucks were the biggest contributor.

A steep drop in gas prices was a key reason the Consumer Price Index dropped 0.1 percent in October, the Labor Department said. Food prices did rise, but at the slowest pace this year.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called "core" prices rose 0.1 percent.

Slower inflation could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to lower long-term interest rates to help the economy.

Still, oil prices have been climbing in recent weeks and hit $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in four months. They have been rising as the economy improves while tensions rise in countries that hold some of the world's major sources of crude.

If those prices translate into higher gas prices, consumers could pull back on spending and slow economic growth.

Strong consumer spending helped the economy grow at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. The October gain in retail sales suggests similar growth in the final three months of the year.

Instability in Europe might also hurt the U.S. economy. A shaky euro would likely strengthen the dollar, making U.S. goods appear more expensive to overseas buyers. And exports to Europe already account for about one-fourth of U.S. corporate revenue, analysts say.

Europe's economy is barely growing, and sharp government spending cuts might tip it back into recession. If that happens, slowing output by U.S. manufacturers could hinder the broader economic recovery.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

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Government closes mortgage scams tied to Google (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Federal government regulators have shut down dozens of Internet scams that had been paying Google to run deceptive ads promising to help desperate homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The crackdown announced Wednesday targeted 85 businesses accused of duping homeowners hoping to lower their home loan payments. The U.S. Treasury Department division overseeing the criminal investigation into the alleged misconduct didn't identify the operations that have been shut down.

Google's name popped up because the Internet search leader had been running the ads that the alleged scam artists used to bait their victims.

In an effort to prevent the abuse, the government said Google has suspended its business ties with more than 500 advertisers and agencies connected to the alleged swindlers.

A Google Inc. spokeswoman declined to comment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_on_hi_te/us_google_mortgage_fraud

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LinkedIn's New CardMunch iPhone App: Reinventing Business Cards

Today, we?ve taken a giant leap forward to reinventing business cards with a complete relaunch of the LinkedIn?s CardMunch iPhone app with a brand new mobile experience for professionals on LinkedIn.

Get the Cardmunch iPhone app now!

Millions of business cards are exchanged everyday, and CardMunch is at the heart of solving this age-old problem. In fact, millions of business cards have been digitized on CardMunch to date. By using the new CardMunch app, you now have access to deeper and richer information about the person behind the card ? via the LinkedIn profile ? who you know in common, where they?ve worked, where they went to school, and much, much more!

For the first time, we?ll be connecting the physical world of business cards with the digital world of LinkedIn profiles, and helping millions of professionals everywhere take the world of contacts and phone numbers into the future of professional networking. We?ve also done a major re-haul of the CardMunch experience with particular focus on how we can make outbound professionals more successful and productive.

What?s New?

As LinkedIn Mobile has grown 400% year-over-year in page views, we are continuously looking for ways to bring value to professionals and we?ve done this with the new CardMunch app.

We?ve rebuilt the entire CardMunch experience from the ground up with powerful new features to make professionals smarter and more efficient, while on the road. Here are some new features all of our members will find valuable:

1. Brand New App Design that?s easier to use than ever before

The new CardMunch application introduces a brand-new and stunning visual experience. Additionally, our completely re-designed camera experience allows users to capture cards faster than ever.

We?ve reduced the entire application to 3 super intuitive and easy to use screens: (1) Card capture (2) Contact list (3) Contact details and LinkedIn profiles.

2. Smarter too, now with the ability to ?know who?s behind the card?

We?ve introduced the power of the LinkedIn ecosystem and combined it with features our users crave:

Past versions of our app only showed you the information gleaned from the business card you scanned but with this version we wanted to bring to our members the richness of profile information that only a site like LinkedIn possess.

Once you scan your card, we?ll map that information with their LinkedIn profile, along with photos of contacts, common connections, past work experience, education. Now you know the person behind the card ? the who, what, where and when for every business card you scan.

3. More Powerful Mobile Functionality?

Finally, since CardMunch is used by professionals ? both outbound professionals to the newbie attending her first conference ? we?ve taken special pains to include some powerful functionality that?ll help any member.

For e.g.

• You can still add contacts to your iPhone address book, connect with contacts on LinkedIn, view your mobile rolodex of cards, and much more!

• Add notes on-the-go while waiting for your card to be processed by our team.

What?s Next?

We?re thrilled with this current iteration that expands on the original app by adding features our members had asked for. We look forward to your feedback as we continue to focus on building on these improvements, so stay tuned for newer and more exciting features in the versions to come.

Let us know what you think by joining our LinkedIn group for members using our mobile apps. Or, leave a comment or @linkedin us on Twitter.

Source: http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/11/15/new-cardmunch-app/

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