Spanish savings bank directors suspected of fraud (AP)

MADRID ? A Spanish savings bank has fired two directors and is investigating two former executives for allegedly syphoning off euro20 million ($26.5 million) into secret pension funds, the bank said Saturday.

The board of directors of Caixa Penedes bank had "required the departure" of its president, Ricard Pages, and director general Manuel Troyano. It said both men had agreed to leave, the bank said in a statement.

The decision comes after state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia, Teresa Compte, said her office was investigating all four on suspicion of involvement in illegal activity.

Regional newspaper La Vanguardia said the case was the first time prosecutors had investigated senior executives for "criminal responsibility" in their handling of a savings bank.

The prosecutor named the other two former executives as Joan Caellas and Jaume Jorba.

Caixa Penedes along with partners Cajamurcia, CajaGRANADA and SA NOSTRA owns Banco Mare Nostrum, S.A. (BMN). The group received euro916 million ($1.21 billion) in restructuring aid from the Bank of Spain's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB).

The fund was set up to aid institutions meet higher reserve requirements and is aimed at strengthening their finances and quelling fears that Spain might be Europe's next country to need a bailout.

Caixa Penedes said its board "disapproved of the content, method, lack of transparency, unusual nature and disproportionate size" of the remuneration package the four directors had helped themselves to.

The pension funds were set up in another institution without the knowledge of Caixa Penedes's board.

Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, spokesman for trade union Comisiones Obreras said that if the money could be recovered it could help offset the euro45 million ($59.53 million) in wage bill savings BMN had recently said it would seek from its work force. He said many BMN employees are members of Comisiones Obreras.

The investigation comes as Spain is burdened with an unemployment rate of 21.5 percent ? nearly 5 million people out of work ? the eurozone's highest.

The country's borrowing costs have also risen to an almost unsustainable level of 7 percent interest rate on 10-year bonds. An auction of 12- and 18-month bonds last week also went badly, with Spain forced to offer very high interest rates to investors.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_spain_financial_crisis

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Europe bond yields to keep stocks spellbound (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. investors came to the Thanksgiving holiday table on Thursday mostly thankful that the week was a short one, or losses could have been larger.

As another round of news and bond auctions from Europe begins next week, traders will watch closely sovereign bond yields that have kept markets on edge.

Yields rose in almost every euro-zone country this week, and Germany failed to find enough bids for a 10-year auction. The S&P 500 reacted by posting a second straight week of declines and its worst week in two months.

Politicians are scrambling to find a way out of a two-year-old sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone and a visit to Washington from top European Union officials, as well as a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, will provide the market with headlines and possibly add to uncertainty.

With the specter of rising yields, France, Britain, Italy, Belgium and Spain are holding debt sales next week. The direction of bond yields will determine the direction of equity markets.

"Politicians are trying to buy themselves time so austerity measures kick in and impact budgets and deficits and markets become more forgiving and rates come down," said Wasif Latif, vice president of equity investments at the San Antonio, Texas-based USAA Investment Management, which manages about $45 billion.

"The credit market and fixed income are a little bit more in the eye of storm; that's where the issue is rising, so equities are more reactionary," he said. "You may continue to see more of the same."

Investors have worried about rising borrowing costs in many euro-zone nations, but Italy, the third-largest euro zone economy, has grabbed most of the focus. On Friday Rome paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow for six months and almost 8 percent to issue two-year zero coupon bonds.

Many market participants have said that the sharply differentiated risk-on and -off trades that the euro zone crisis has generated has seen equities being sold as an asset class, with little or no difference between strong and week balance sheets and earnings reports. But a wedge has opened at least from a global perspective, as data show stocks of companies with more exposure to Europe are underperforming.

POLITICS TO DRIVE THE WEEK

President Barack Obama will meet on Monday with European Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and Europe's response to the two-year sovereign debt crisis is expected to top the agenda.

"The only thing that will come out of that is speculation," said Todd Salamone, vice president of research at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, referring to the meeting in Washington.

"It will come down to the U.S. trying to convince European leaders to get something in place to solve this crisis."

Not many hopes are set either on Tuesday's meeting where euro-zone finance ministers are expected to agree on how to further strengthen the region's bailout fund.

On Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi presents the bank's annual report to the European parliament.

As the latest reminder from markets to politicians that they are running out of time, Belgium's credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's.

IF EUROPE ALLOWS, DATA WILL BE KEY

Some of the most important U.S. economic monthly data will be released next week, but will it be enough to unlink the stock market's behavior and European yields.

New home sales and the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index will start the week showing if the housing market continues on life support. Data on confidence among consumers, who flooded U.S. stores on Friday as the holiday shopping season started, will be released on Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing report is due, with investors not only looking at the U.S. number on Wednesday but also factory readings from Europe and China on Thursday.

By midweek labor data takes over with the private sector employment report from ADP and Challenger's job cuts report, followed Thursday by the weekly jobless claims numbers and topped by Friday's monthly non-farm payrolls report.

"It would be a little bit refreshing to focus on the U.S. data for a change," said Brian Lazorishak, senior quantitative analyst and portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He said if European headlines allow it, the focus will be in the labor market where "most people are looking for modest improvement."

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111126/bs_nm/us_usa_stocks_weekahead

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South Korea plans trial run of robot prison guards

This isn't the first time we've seen a prison turn to robots for a little assistance, but South Korea looks to be going a bit further than most with its latest robotic endeavor. The country's Ministry of Justice has announced that it will be conducting a one-month trial run of robot guards at a prison in the city of Pohang starting in March -- a project that's expected to cost one billion won (or about $863,000). "The robots are not terminators," as the university professor in charge of the endeavor told The Wall Street Journal, but rather monitors that will patrol the corridors of the jail and alert the human guards if they detect any unusual activity. Inmates will also be able to use the robots to communicate with the guards, and the folks behind the bots are apparently doing their best to keep things from turning into too much of a dystopian future -- they're now said to working on making the robots appear more "humane and friendly."

South Korea plans trial run of robot prison guards originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3 American students arrested in Cairo back in US

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Gregory Porter, center, one of three U.S. students arrested during a demonstration in Cairo, walks with his mother Nancy Hansen, left, upon arriving at Philadelphia International Airport, in Philadelphia, on Saturday Nov. 26, 2011, after an Egyptian court ordered the release of Porter and two other U.S. students who were arrested for throwing firebombs at security forces said Egyptian officials. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)

Gregory Porter, left, one of three U.S. students arrested during a demonstration in Cairo, and his attorney Theodore Simon, second from right, speak to members of the news media after arriving at Philadelphia International Airport, in Philadelphia, on Saturday Nov. 26, 2011, after an Egyptian court ordered the release of Porter and two other U.S. students who were arrested for throwing firebombs at security forces said Egyptian officials. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? The last of the three American students to arrive home after being arrested amid Cairo's tumultuous protests described his first hours in custody as "probably the scariest night of my life ever," saying the youths were hit, forced to lay for hours in the dark nearly in a fetal position and threatened with guns.

Derrik Sweeney, 19, spoke with The Associated Press shortly after arriving at St. Louis' international airport late Saturday night, greeted with joyful shouts of anxious parents who tightly hugged him as dozens of others in a crowd of supporters and relatives held up signs reading, "We love you Derrik" and "Welcome home, Derrik."

"The first night was probably the scariest night of my life ever. I was not sure I was going to live. They said if we moved at all, even an inch, they would shoot us. They were behind us with guns," Sweeney told the AP in a brief phone interview, adding the three had spent about six hours curled up uncomfortably with their hands behind their backs.

Egyptian authorities said they had arrested Sweeney a week earlier along with 19-year-old Gregory Porter and 21-year-old Luke Gates on the rooftop of a university building near Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square amid violent protests engulfing the streets below.

Officials accused the young men of throwing firebombs at Egyptian security forces fighting with the protesters, but Sweeney said he and the other Americans "never did anything to hurt anyone" and never were on the rooftop nor handled or threw any explosives. He called those accusations "very clearly just lies, 100 percent."

But he said conditions in custody markedly improved after the opening night's ordeal when they three were taken to some "legitimate" prison or jail. He didn't elaborate on who he believed was holding him the opening night but he called the treatment humane in the ensuing days.

? "There was really marked treatment between the first night and the next three nights or however long it was. The first night, it was kind of rough. They were hitting us; they were saying they were going to shoot us and they were putting us in really uncomfortable positions. But after that first night, we were treated in a just manner ? as a prisoner ? we were given food when we needed and it was OK after that first night."

At his airport arrival, he also said things became much better in subsequent days when he was allowed to speak with U.S. consular official "and then my mom."

An Egyptian court ordered the students' release Thursday, and they were on flights out of Cairo two days later. Porter and Gates also arrived back in their home states late Saturday, all greeted by relieved family members.

"I'm not going to take this as a negative experience. It's still a great country," Gates, his parents wrapping their arms around him, said shortly after getting off a flight in Indianapolis.

The protests had flared starting Nov. 19, in anticipation of the landmark parliamentary elections in Egypt due to start Monday. On Friday, the crowd grew to more than 100,000 people and on Saturday fresh clashes erupted between security forces and the Egyptian protesters demanding the military step down. The protests Saturday left one man dead as the violence threatened to overshadow the looming elections.

Porter also was met by his parents and other relatives earlier Saturday evening when he landed at Philadelphia International Airport. Porter took no questions, but said he was thankful for the help he and the other American students received from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, administrators at the university they were attending, and attorneys in Egypt and the U.S.

"I'm just so thankful to be back, to be in Philadelphia right now," said Porter, who is from nearby Glenside, Pa., and attends Drexel University in Philadelphia.

All three left the Egyptian capital Saturday morning on separate connecting flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said. The three were studying at American University in Cairo.

Joy Sweeney said staff at the school packed her son's bags because he wasn't allowed to return to his dorm room. Waiting for her son had been grueling, she said shortly before he arrived, but she was grateful he would be home before the holiday weekend was over.

"He still hasn't processed what a big deal this is," she told the AP shortly before her son arrived at the airport.

She said she was trying not to dwell on the events of the last week and was ecstatic that her son, a student at Georgetown University in Washington, was coming home. The family is from Jefferson City, Mo., about 130 miles west of St. Louis.

Earlier in the week, she talked about how she put a Thanksgiving celebration on hold because the idea seemed "absolutely irrelevant" while her son still was being held.

"It's been an emotional rollercoaster. I mean, I don't know how to describe it other than that," she said Saturday night. "But I never looked at the worst-case scenario."

___

Matheson reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press photographer Michael Conroy contributed to this report from Indianapolis and AP writers Bill Cormier in Atlanta; Maggie Michael in Cairo; Andale Gross and Erin Gartner in Chicago; Sandy Kozel in Washington; Rick Callahan in Indianapolis; and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia also contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-27-Egypt-American%20Students/id-2010efd1159c42bf8fbf1013307970fb

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Alleged Penn State victim says to sue charity (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? One of the alleged victims in the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal on Wednesday sought an injunction to stop the Second Mile charity from dissipating its assets.

In a filing in Pennsylvania state court, the alleged victim said he and others intended to sue The Second Mile for negligence and failing to report known sexual abuse of children, and wanted to stop the charity's assets from disappearing.

The Second Mile is the children's charity founded by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse.

According to the grand jury report that laid out the charges against Sandusky, The Second Mile learned almost a decade ago that he had showered with a young boy but did not alert the police.

Last week, the charity said it had accepted the resignation of its chief executive of 28 years, Jack Raykovitz. In a November 21 statement on its website, it said it was exploring options regarding its future, including not continuing.

The court filing on Wednesday said it sought to stop the charity from discontinuing or transferring its programs to other organizations.

"The assets of The Second Mile should not be dissipated, encumbered or in way obligated or disturbed in any form and should be available to victims of sexual abuse," according to the court filing.

The Second Mile said through a spokesman that it would review the filing. "As always, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," the charity said.

The alleged victim who made the request for an injunction is referred to as "Victim 4" in the grand jury report.

The case is John Doe #4 v. The Second Mile, No. 111102384, Court of Common Pleas Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

(Reporting by Andrew Longstreth; Editing by Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/us_nm/us_usa_crime_coach_victim

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Companies give GOP, regulators, different messages (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/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_go_co/us_clean_air_politics

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Parents of missing Madeleine tell of media pursuit

Gerry and Kate McCann, front, arrive to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. McCanns' daughter Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday flat in the Algarve, shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007. The Leveson inquiry is Britain's media ethics probe that was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Gerry and Kate McCann, front, arrive to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. McCanns' daughter Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday flat in the Algarve, shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007. The Leveson inquiry is Britain's media ethics probe that was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Gerry and Kate McCann arrive to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. McCanns' daughter Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday flat in the Algarve, shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007. The Leveson inquiry is Britain's media ethics probe that was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Gerry and Kate McCann, front, arrive to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. McCanns' daughter Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday flat in the Algarve, shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007. The Leveson inquiry is Britain's media ethics probe that was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Sheryl Gascoigne, the ex-wife of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, arrives to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. The Leveson inquiry into Britain's media ethics was set up following a scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World publication, which was closed in July 2011, after it became clear that the tabloid newspaper had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Sheryl Gascoigne, the ex-wife of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, arrives to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. The Leveson inquiry into Britain's media ethics was set up following a scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World publication, which was closed in July 2011, after it became clear that the tabloid newspaper had systematically broken the law. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

LONDON (AP) ? The parents of missing child Madeleine McCann called Wednesday for fundamental changes to Britain's media culture, saying they were left distraught by false stories and the publication of private information by a rapacious tabloid press.

Kate and Gerry McCann told a media ethics inquiry that they felt powerless in the face of stories, based on confected evidence, suggesting they had killed their daughter, who vanished during the British family's vacation in Portugal in 2007. The disappearance of the 3-year-old, and her parents' search for her, fueled a media frenzy.

"Lives are being harmed by these stories, and something has to change," Gerry McCann said. "A commercial imperative is not acceptable."

The couple appeared as witnesses at an inquiry set up by Prime Minister David Cameron in response to a scandal over phone hacking by journalists at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid. A judge at London's Royal Courts of Justice has heard evidence from celebrities including actor Hugh Grant and comedian Steve Coogan, and from ordinary people like the McCanns left bruised by unwanted media attention.

The McCanns, both 43, said press coverage of Madeleine's disappearance was initially sympathetic but soon changed, with some articles implying the parents were hiding something. One story said the couple had sold their daughter into slavery, another that they had killed her and hid her body in a freezer.

Gerry McCann said such articles were "nothing short of disgusting."

His wife said they felt powerless to do anything about the coverage,

"These were desperate times," Kate McCann said. "When it's your voice against a powerful media, it just doesn't hold weight."

The couple successfully sued several British newspapers over suggestions that they had caused their daughter's death and then covered it up. Two, the Daily Express and the Daily Star, were forced to print front-page apologies to the McCanns.

Kate McCann described her dismay when extracts from her private diary ? in which she wrote to her missing daughter ? appeared in the News of the World in 2008. The couple is still unsure how the newspaper obtained the journal.

"I felt totally violated," she said. "There was absolutely no respect shown to me as a grieving mother or as a human being, or to my daughter.

"I just felt so worthless we'd been treated like that."

Gerry McCann said he and his wife did not think their phones had been hacked, but had volunteered to testify at the inquiry "for one simple reason ? we feel a system has to be put in place to protect ordinary people from the damage the media can cause."

They acknowledged seeking media coverage of the search for their daughter, but said it had triggered a wave of intrusion. Gerry McCann said that "by engaging, it was more or less open season" on them for the tabloid press.

It is still not clear what happened to Madeleine, despite her parents' far-reaching international campaign and numerous reported sightings from around the world.

The inquiry, led by Judge Brian Leveson, plans to issue a report next year and could recommend major changes to media regulation in Britain.

The hearings have heard allegations of media malpractice and intrusion that extend far beyond the News of the World, which has admitted illegally accessing the mobile phone voice mails of celebrities, politicians and crime victims and was shut down by owner Rupert Murdoch in July.

On Thursday the inquiry will hear from actress Sienna Miller, who won damages for phone hacking from the News of the World, and "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, one of Britain's richest people, who has fought to keep her children out of the media glare.

A lawyer for several phone hacking victims told the inquiry Wednesday that illegal eavesdropping was not limited to the News of the World.

"It was a much more widespread practice than just one newspaper," said Mark Lewis, whose clients include the family of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, whose voice mails were accessed by the News of the World after she disappeared in 2002.

Milly Dowler's parents spoke Monday before the inquiry, saying the hacking gave them false hope their daughter was still alive during the investigation into her disappearance.

Lewis claimed that listening in on voice mails was so easy that many journalists regarded it as no more serious than "driving at 35 mph in a 30 mph zone."

He said the News of the World got caught because it hired a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, who kept detailed records of his snooping assignments. Mulcaire and News of the World reporter Clive Goodman were jailed in 2007 for hacking into the voice mails of royal aides.

"The fact that evidence doesn't exist in written form doesn't mean to say that the crime didn't happen," Lewis said.

More than a dozen News of the World journalists and editors have been arrested over allegations of illegal eavesdropping, and two top London police officers also lost their jobs, along with Cameron's media adviser.

Several senior Murdoch executives have resigned in the still-evolving scandal, which has fueled calls for the mogul's son James Murdoch to step down as head of the international branch of his father's News Corp.

On Wednesday the company confirmed that James Murdoch had resigned in September as a director of the companies that publish The Sun and The Times of London newspapers, although he remains chairman of News International, the British arm of News Corp.

___

Online:

Leveson Inquiry: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-23-EU-Britain-Phone-Hacking/id-a459793e6ce44cb69823a0a44cf531f7

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Chunk of LA cliff, street slide into Pacific

LOS ANGELES?? Residents of a coastal neighborhood were worried Monday about safety and property values after a large chunk of a street and the coastal bluff it sat on crumbled into the ocean amid heavy rains on Sunday.

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   7. Wood?s sister: Like having to ?relive her death?

A section of Paseo Del Mar in the San Pedro area that for months had been creeping toward the ocean collapsed as a storm struck, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. In recent weeks the section had been moving at about 4 inches a day.

"My greatest concern (is) that all these homes right here are going to end up in the water and that we're going to be separated and our own little island," said one resident interviewed by nbclosangeles.com just outside the closed-off area. "I have three kids and two grandkids and I want them to be able to have the ocean view and be able to stick their feet in the sand and not fall off a cliff."

Another resident said locals were talking about how the slide would undermine property values.

Witnesses said power poles began to sway and then "snapping" noises were heard when the big slide happened around 3 p.m.

The mayor said there were no injuries and no property was damaged. Workers rerouted a storm drain in the area as a precaution.

The scenic route had been closed since spring. A 900-foot-long had been bisected by 25-foot-deep fissures in places and the city had erected a chain link fence and warning signs.

The peninsula's scenic qualities prompted decades of homebuilding that some experts blame for further destabilizing the historically unstable ocean bluffs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45383284/ns/weather/

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Be thankful for messy politics and noisy protesters (The Week)

New York ? Many Americans are fed up with our gridlocked politics and sputtering economy. But there's still plenty to be grateful for

Some Americans might not see much to be thankful for this year. After all, 48 million of our fellow citizens are on food stamps. Unemployment grinds along at 9 percent. Housing prices???the source of most people's wealth???have fallen to 2002 levels. Economic uncertainty, even fear, is spreading. And, in a most un-American thought, there is a gnawing suspicion that the next generation won't live as well as the preceding one.?

Fair points all???and a humble reminder to those who are blessed that millions of our fellow Americans, tens of millions, are truly struggling this Thanksgiving. Here's to hoping for better times for them.?

SEE MORE: The GOP's new voting laws: Disenfranchising 5 million Americans?

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Call me crazy, but I think it's great that our elections take months and years to play out.

Still, there are plenty of things to be thankful for. And a few may surprise you:?

SEE MORE: Will Scott Brown pay for insinuating that Elizabeth Warren is ugly?

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We can be thankful for our messy political system. Call me crazy, but I think it's great that our elections take months and years to play out. It gives us time to thoroughly vet our candidates. In parliamentary democracies like Britain and Canada, elections are held in a matter of weeks. It seems to work for them, but think about this: In the last few months alone, Republicans pined for Sarah Palin; Michele Bachmann had her 15 minutes; Rick Perry rose and fell; Herman Cain burned bright before burning out; and now Newt Gingrich is moving up. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney chugs along, never getting more than 25 percent or so of Republican support. That the GOP goes through candidates quicker than the Kardashians do marriages is a healthy thing (for the Republicans, not the Kardashians). Each candidate is thoroughly scrutinized, put to the test in a series of debates, and made to answer difficult questions from pesky reporters. By enduring this, sometimes for years, the true measure of a candidate???his or her intelligence, character (or lack thereof), experience, strengths, and weaknesses???usually emerges. When we go to the polls next year, we'll know what we're getting. And Democrats basking in the GOP squabble this cycle had better buckle up, because they're looking at a similar free for all in 2016???and that's great.?

We can be thankful that we have the right to gather in city squares and protest and yell at the top of our lungs. The Tea Party and its left-wing lookalike, the Occupy movement, are perhaps the purest form of American democracy. It's no coincidence that the framers chose this right???to assemble (peaceably) and be heard???as the First Amendment. The hue and cry of the citizenry is not only a temperature check on the body politic, it is an essential cog in the self-correcting mechanism that has always helped the American ship of state find the best course.?

SEE MORE: Elizabeth Warren takes credit for Occupy Wall Street: Smart move?

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Let's be thankful that our media is a patchwork quilt of loud, disagreeable people with wildly differing ideas. What's your pleasure: Fox News or MSNBC? NPR or Rush Limbaugh? The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times? There is something for every point of view. Don't trust the mainstream media or feel like you're not being heard? Fine. Start your own blog or podcast. Email your congressman. Send a tweet to the president. It has never been easier to let our opinions be known than today.?

Think politics is all about big money and big corporations? That's often the perception, and in some respects, it is undeniably true. But it's also true, albeit underreported, that the little guy plays a big role as well. For example, through September 30, more than half of all donations to President Obama's re-election campaign have been for $200 or less. We can be thankful that citizens, particularly of modest means, care about their country so much that they'll part with a few of their hard-earned dollars so that they, too, can make a difference. (By contrast, only 10 percent of Mitt Romney's donations fall into this category).?

We can be thankful that even in these tough times, Americans continue to have big hearts. We gave $291 billion to charity last year, 3.8 percent more than in 2009, reports CharityNavigator.org. And the vast majority of that, 73 percent, came from individuals. Americans know that no matter how difficult their personal struggles, there's always someone who has it worse.?

Let's also be thankful that young Americans???our next generation of leaders???recognize the importance of pubic service and giving back. Applications for positions at AmeriCorps nearly tripled between 2008 and 2010, reports The New York Times; Teach for America, which puts college graduates into some of the toughest classrooms in the land, received 32 percent more applicants last year than the year before. Some of this surge can surely be attributed to America's lack of jobs. But also, "the millennial generation is a generation that is just more interested in making a difference than making a dollar," Max Stier, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that advises government recruiting efforts, tells the Times.

The list of things to be thankful for is long. What about all the tremendous problems we face? Obviously, that's a long list, too. But for one day, at least, let's focus on what we have. Pass the pumpkin pie???and Happy Thanksgiving.?

View this article on TheWeek.com
Get Drew Carey: From 'The Price is Right' to the Senate?

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Hank Baskett To Dip His Toes Into Acting!

From game time to prime time? Now that he?s sitting out the current NFL season, Hank Baskett, 29, is plotting his next step: movie star! Hank, with wife Kendra Wilkinson?s blessing, has decided to give acting a try. ?The response has been great,? says an insider. In Touch can exclusively reveal that after his third audition, he booked a live-action/animated web series called Supermoms, playing a character named Patrick. ?He was in all eight episodes. Since then, he?s been going to lots of auditions,? adds the insider. Maybe he and Kendra will co-star in a sequel to The House Bunny!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InTouchWeekly/~3/aSNzr-l5BKI/hank_baskett_to_dip_his_toes_i.php

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Mohamed A. El-Erian: OWS: From Building Awareness To Maintaining Momentum

From disrupter to builder -- this is one of the most difficult transitions to make. It has tripped many promising popular movements in the past. And it is the critical challenge that faces the OWS Movement today (or, to be more exact, the Occupy Movement given that it has successfully spread to so many cities around the world).

This peaceful grassroots movement has succeeded in raising awareness about growing income and wealth inequality and, more generally, a system that seems better at serving the privileged few than enabling jobs and income growth for the many.

Indeed, whether you agree with the core messages or not, the fact is that the movement has triggered lots of important discussions about the balance between rich and poor, capital and labor, current and future generations, and the financial sector and the real economy.

By striking a chord with many people in America and across the world, it is a movement that cannot, and should not be dismissed. Indeed, it will resonate even more as western economies continue to struggle with sluggish growth and very high unemployment.

Yet it is way too early for the movement to declare victory. It is not enough for it to provide for a better understanding of the past. It can also pivot in order to contribute to a better tomorrow.

No one should underestimate the difficulties of this pivot. It is far from automatic, inherently complex, and organizationally demanding. It has undermined many social movements and, today, is an important reason why the Egyptian revolution risks stalling.

Yet it is also a transition that has been successfully navigated, most spectacularly in South Africa. And while the contexts are very different, this history does contain some insights nevertheless.

Led by the inspirational Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa quickly understood the need to pivot from complaining about an appalling past to building a better future. This critical transition was captured in a sentence that only Mr. Mandela, with unquestioned credibility and standing, could sell to his nation: "We should forgive but not forget."

This was at the root of Mr. Mandela's tireless emphasis on "truth and reconciliation" as the key to mending a bitterly divided society. It also enabled his successful evolution from being a freedom fighter to governing -- one that historically has eluded many, if not most.

The Occupy Movement does not have a leader like Mr. Mandela, either visible or waiting in the wings; and it is unlikely to get one. Yet, to be successful and to avoid fragmentation, it has no choice but to attempt the pivot from the past to the future. So instead of a person, it will need to use structure to do the heavy lifting.

This structure must enable agreement and the wide dissemination of a set of core principles. It must provide for implementation steps, monitoring mechanisms, and appropriate modalities for midcourse corrections as needed. There are many issues to resolve and difficult decisions to make; and, as there are no easy answers, tricky compromises will need to be made.

The Movement must seek a way to join the political process and to insert itself into legislative procedures. It must evolve its umbrella setup into a more manageable structure with legitimate executive powers. And it must decide whether to continue building from the ground up or link itself to an existing institution, as imperfect as this may be.

History will show that, to the surprise of many, OWS succeeded in raising public awareness about growing inequality and the importance of social justice. It got traction, both domestic and international, because it is fueled by issues that are critical to society's wellbeing. Using structure, it now needs to pivot to a forward-looking mode if it is to make a long-lasting difference in the lives of millions.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mohamed-a-elerian/occupy-wall-street_b_1103499.html

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Egypt stocks tumble on Cairo unrest (AP)

CAIRO ? Egypt's benchmark stock index tumbled more than 2 percent on Sunday as clashes between protesters and security forces entered their second day, rattling investor confidence in the country's already stumbling economy.

The Egyptian Exchange's EGX30 index closed 2.43 percent lower, at 4,024 points. The slide built on a week of declines that have helped push the index's year-to-date losses to almost 44 percent. The index had tumbled almost 3 percent earlier in the day, but recouped some of the losses.

Brokers attributed the drop to the clashes between rock-throwing protesters and security forces in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The fighting entered its second day, with the protesters demanding the country's military rulers quickly announce a date to hand over power to a civilian government. The unrest comes days before the Nov. 28 parliamentary elections ? the first national vote in roughly 30 years that doesn't include the former ruling National Democratic Party.

"These are bad times," said Khaled Naga, a senior broker with Mega Investments, adding that even after a thousands-strong demonstration on Friday went relatively peacefully, there were expectations that the market would decline.

"All things considered, this is a reasonable decline," said Naga. "We were expecting worse ? maybe 5 percent."

Shares of Commercial International Bank were down almost 2.6 percent to 23.13 Egyptian pounds while Orascom Construction Industries' shares were off 3.14 percent to 220.44 Egyptian pounds.

The Jan. 25 uprising that toppled Mubarak and ended nearly three decades of authoritarian rule has battered the country's economy.

Foreign investment and tourism, which are two of the country's economic pillars, are reeling from the unrest, while frequent labor strikes and other mass protests have disrupted daily life and forced the government to adopt populist policies that have widened the deficit and added to expenses.

Already, Egypt has run through almost 40 percent of its net international reserves since December.

Brokers said continued unrest in the capital would likely only add to the drop and expected that the market's support point ? where it could bounce back ? could be around 3,800 points. But hitting that level would involve a number of days of heavy losses and so far the Egyptian market has shown a surprising ability to bounce back despite the continuing unrest and tension in the nation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_economy

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Conservation body agrees to protect silky sharks (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Marine advocacy groups say delegates at an international conservation meeting have agreed on steps to protect a vulnerable species of shark.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) agreed Saturday that all silky sharks accidentally caught during fishing must be released.

The decision came at the end of a weeklong meeting in Istanbul.

An exception was made for coastal developing countries where the sharks could be caught for local consumption.

The Oceana advocacy group welcomed the development calling it a "strong step" to protect a species threatened by the international shark fin trade.

It said, however, that no measure had been taken to protect porbeagle sharks, or to establish catch limits for blue and shortfin mako sharks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_sharks

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Congress OKs bill averting government shutdown (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A weekend government shutdown that neither party wanted was averted when Congress approved a compromise spending bill Thursday, as leaders overcame major defections by Republicans angry over what they considered excessive spending. To the dismay of liberals, the measure also blocks Obama administration plans to impose stricter nutrition standards on school lunches.

The Senate sent the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature on a 70-30 vote, shortly after the House consented to the bill 298-121.

Though passage was by comfortable margins, the vote in both chambers highlighted GOP fissures over federal spending. House Republicans backed the legislation by just 133-101, while GOP senators voted heavily against the bipartisan bill, 30-17.

Many conservatives also were unhappy that the bill potentially would leave taxpayers on the hook for even more spending because it would expand the size of mortgages that could be insured by the Federal Housing Administration in wealthy areas from $625,500 to $729,750.

"Some say, `Oh, the tea party, you shouldn't listen to them, they were angry people,'" Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said. "Well, I think they were deeply frustrated people and, yes, somewhat angry. Why shouldn't they be?"

The votes occurred against a backdrop of partisan gridlock among members of Congress' supercommittee, which has less than a week to try agreeing to a debt-reduction plan. Some Republicans on that panel have been pushing to include some tax increases as part of a deal, and that has upset some Republicans adamant against abandoning the party's core stance against boosting levies.

Democrats supported the measure overwhelmingly, with only 20 in the House and none in the Senate voting "no." Liberals mocked a provision blocking Obama administration efforts to prod schools to put healthier foods on their lunch menus, including a proposal to no longer consider the tomato paste on pizza to be a vegetable.

"What's next? Are Twinkies going to be considered a vegetable?" said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., who voted against passage.

Despite the objections, passage was never in real doubt. Both parties were eager to avoid further tarnishing Congress' ghastly public image, which took a beating after partisan standoffs nearly caused a government shutdown this past spring and a federal default in the summer.

"It's a good bill. It's not perfect but it's a lot better than the alternative," said Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington, top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

The government's new fiscal year started Oct. 1 without enactment of any yearlong spending bills. A temporary measure that has been financing federal agencies expires after midnight Friday.

The legislation would keep the government's doors open through Dec. 16, giving lawmakers more time to catch up on their tardy budget work. It would also provide $182 billion to finance the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce and Justice, and many smaller agencies through the rest of the government's budget year.

Supporters said the bill honors a summer compromise between Obama and Republicans to limit overall spending on federal agencies to just over $1 trillion, $7 billion less than last year.

"This bill is the next step in breaking the status quo of excessive federal spending that is throwing our budgets out of whack," said Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

To try winning over skeptics, GOP leaders told their rank-and-file that the bill would eliminate 20 federal programs. All were relatively small, including a $35 million Agriculture Department healthy food initiative and a $12 million National Science Foundation underground science lab.

They also noted that the bill provided none of the $8 billion Obama requested for building high-speed rail lines and none of the $322 million the president sought to establish a climate change office in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Obama's request for an additional $308 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is responsible for implementing much of last year's financial law, was cut to $205 million. Reductions were also included for NASA.

Democrats boasted that unlike an earlier House-passed version, the compromise bill lacked GOP language blocking enforcement of parts of last year's law overhauling the regulation of financial markets and preventing the government from regulating the RU-486 birth control pill.

They also said it included more money than Republicans wanted for providing food to poor women, children and older people; helping communities hire police officers; operating federal prisons; financing the National Science Foundation; and highway and transit programs.

The bill also would extend to Dec. 16 the deadline by which the ailing U.S. Postal Service must pay $5.5 billion to the Treasury for future retiree health benefits. Postal officials have warned they have no cash and would default on the annual payment, which was originally due Sept. 30.

The Agriculture Department had proposed improving school lunches by steps like limiting potatoes and salt and promoting whole grains.

The legislation blocked those rules. As a result, the bill would allow the tomato paste typically topping pizzas to be considered a vegetable, a practice the Agriculture Department wanted to curb.

Federally subsidized school meals must contain certain amounts of vegetables, and the proposed rules could have forced schools to remove foods like pizza and french fries from their cafeterias.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_spending

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At British hearing, stars turn tables on tabloids

LONDON (AP) ? They've been hacked and libeled, stalked and slandered. Now the public figures whose personal lives have long offered grist for Britain's news mill have been given a rare chance to confront their tabloid tormentors.

Film star Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, and the father of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among those due to testify over the next week at the U.K. inquiry into media ethics ? a judicial body that could recommend sweeping changes to the way Britons get their news.

The nationally televised inquiry would give many of those in the public eye an unprecedented chance to challenge those who write about them, said Cary Cooper, a professor at northern England's Lancaster University and the author of "Public Faces, Private Lives."

"This is the first time the celebrities have been able to strike back," Cooper said. "I think it will have an impact, and the media might ? for a while at least ? pull away."

Speaking ahead of the testimony, victims' lawyer David Sherborne told the inquiry multiple tales of shattered privacy, broken lives and even suicides stemming from relentless media intrusion.

"When people talk of public interest in exposing the private lives of well-known people or those close to them, this is the real, brutally real impact which this kind of journalism has," Sherborne said.

Britain's media ethics probe was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. Most horrific was the news that the tabloid had broken into the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in its search for scoops.

Cooper acknowledged that celebrities like Grant or actress Sienna Miller ? another star due to give evidence ? have struggled to get much in the way of public sympathy even when it was shown that their privacy had been invaded. But he said their appearance alongside crime victims such as Bob and Sally Dowler or Gerry McCann could mark a shift in attitudes.

"They're going to get hit worse by the Milly Dowler family and witnesses of that ilk," he said.

Sherborne, in a two-and-half-hour-long presentation Wednesday, promised to make journalists squirm.

Most powerful among his accusations was the suggestion that media coverage had driven some celebrities' family members to the brink of suicide ? or beyond.

Sherborne said that former Formula One racing boss Max Mosley believed that the suicide of his 39-year-old son Alexander could also be at least in part attributed to "the very public humiliation" dealt to his father by the News of the World's expose of his sexual shenanigans.

He went on to outline the case of soccer player Garry Flitcroft, whose life was turned upside down by a newspaper's revelation that he'd cheated on his wife. Flitcroft's children were teased in school, his family was tracked by helicopter and his ailing father fell into a deepening depression before taking his own life, the lawyer said.

Another case involved Charlotte Church, the British singer who shot to stardom as a teenager. Sherborne said she'd been subjected to waves of harassment. Photographers chased her in cars, tried to take pictures up her skirt and cut holes in bushes to install secret cameras. So hungry was the press for scoops about her private life that journalists revealed she was pregnant before she had even told her parents.

Worse still was the News of the World's expose of her father's affair in 2005. Sherborne said that Church's mother had attempted suicide shortly before the story ran, but that rather than hold back, "the newspaper approached her mother directly and persuaded her to give them an exclusive, despite her fragile condition, as part of a Faustian pact that in return they would not run another lurid follow-up story about her husband's affair."

Others testifying over the next seven days include comic actor Steve Coogan, whose romantic exploits have been exhaustively documented, and broadcaster Anne Diamond, who was targeted by Murdoch's press after she challenged the mogul about his ethics.

Chris Jeffries, who was wrongly implicated in the murder of his tenant, is also due to give evidence, along with soccer star Paul Gascoigne's ex-wife Sheryl; human rights activist Jane Winter; former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst; and Margaret Watson, whose teenage daughter Diane was stabbed to death in 1991.

___

Online:

The Leveson Inquiry: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-20-EU-Britain-Tabloids-on-Trial/id-6693ed8a3250402c90a9e9847551bff2

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Gul says Turkey can be EU's "growth engine" (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Turkey is still determined to join the European Union despite the current crisis in the euro zone and can become the bloc's economic "growth engine," President Abdullah Gul said in an interview published on Sunday.

Gul rejected concerns that the economic problems facing the euro zone meant that any further expansion of the 27-member EU should be put on hold.

EU countries agreed unanimously in 2005 to start talks with mainly Muslim Turkey with the goal of full membership.

However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy remains opposed to Turkey joining and German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she favors a "privileged partnership" for Turkey rather than full membership.

"Some people who think in a narrow scope and who do lack a strategic perspective consider Turkey's membership a burden," Gul, who is traveling to Britain this week for a three-day visit, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph.

"But those who can think 30 years, 60 years ahead, and who can think about the changing trends in the economy and the changing centers of power, can understand how much strength Turkey can bring to the existing strength of Europe."

Gul said Turkey's membership of NATO had been considered the only reason for it to be allowed to join but now its booming economy, where GDP grew by 11 percent in the first quarter of 2011, was as valid.

"Consider the potential that Turkey has: Turkey's position, her assets, the value she can add in terms of energy resources, her population, the dynamism she can bring into Europe, and also the growth that she can bring, with Turkey being the engine of this growth."

He said Turkey viewed the euro zone crisis as a temporary situation.

"We approach the negotiations with a strategic vision, and are very determined."

Turkey has also been taking a tough approach against Syria over its crackdown on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad and Gul said his country would back the Syrian people.

"When any kind of movement has its roots among the people of the country and the walls of fear come down, then the end result is very obvious," he said.

"With a strong and clear voice we are saying that the legitimate demands of the people are being supported by us. We enable them to have their meetings and discussions in a free environment, and provide a diplomatic platform.

"I strongly believe that there is no place any more for authoritarian regimes -- single party systems that do not have accountability or transparency -- on the shores of the Mediterranean."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Ralph Gowling)

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

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Video: Matthews: ?No small things to consider? with foreign policy

Police: 175 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested

??At least 175 people have been arrested during clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York City, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45330017#45330017

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iTunes Match review: Not made in heaven

Apple

By Rosa Golijan

Apple took its sweet time when it came to launching a cloud-based music service?? and the longer we waited, the higher our hopes got. Unfortunately iTunes Match turned out to be anything but a trip to cloud nine.

Yes, that's an awful pun?? but the point stands. While iTunes Match sounds solid on paper, it's not exactly ready for the real world just yet.

What exactly is iTunes Match anyway?
iTunes Match is a $25/year service designed for people who use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices. It?allows you to access your music library from the cloud ??without having to upload every single song or repurchase media.?Songs you've bought on iTunes, imported from CDs and copied from friends can all become easily accessible from all your devices.

Songs which weren't purchased through Apple are compared against the iTunes Store's 20-million song catalog. If there's a match, then you don't have to worry about uploading anything and?you'll automatically have access to a 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free copy ??even if your original song was of lower quality.

If there's no match, you'll have to twiddle your thumbs for quite a while and wait for your song to upload to Apple's servers.

Once all that's done though, you'll be able to listen to your songs from your iTunes-enabled computer, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch almost instantly. (There's a very brief delay?? a second or two, depending on your data connection?? as each song begins to download.)

What's great about iTunes Match?
When it comes to songs purchased through the iTunes Store, iTunes Match is absolutely fantastic. They all ? yes, even the shameful purchases of the past???appear as soon as you enter your Apple ID and password.?No fuss, no muss. (In theory, it's also great with all your other songs?? especially if you're itching for copies encoded at a decent bit rate. Emphasis on that whole "in theory" part.)

One of the particularly great things about iTunes Match is that you can use it as a backup solution. Once your songs are matched or uploaded, you can comfortably delete the originals?? copies will remain in the cloud.

iTunes Match makes your entire cloudified library appear as if it's on your computer. You can tell if a song is saved locally by checking to see if there is a cloud icon next to it or not.

What's really lousy when it comes to iTunes Match?
While iTunes Match sounds solid on paper, our experiences with it weren't all song and dance.

For starters, the service doesn't take on any users who have over 25,000 songs in their iTunes libraries. For me this meant that I had to create a separate mini-library just for the sake of testing things out. (It also means that I'll probably avoid using iTunes Match after completing this review.)

Users with huge libraries aren't the only one's suffering though.

Msnbc.com's Josh Belzman emailed me when he noticed that 12 hours had passed and the twelve thousand songs in his library still hadn't finished getting matched and uploaded. I managed to clear out my entire email inbox while waiting for my thousand-song mini-library to finish the process. (For what it's worth, we're still optimistic that the matching and upload process is so agonizingly slow simply because the service just launched and Apple's servers are struggling to keep up with all the new users.)

iTunes Match doesn't seem to be consistent when it comes to recognizing songs which aren't purchased through Apple. I noticed that a great number of meticulously and correctly tagged songs?? which I confirmed are available in the iTunes Store?? didn't get matched and instead were added to the upload queue.

Why will iTunes Match make some iOS users cry?
Some iOS users will be extremely annoyed when they discover that activating iTunes Match on their devices means that they have to give up the music already stored locally. You basically have to snatch all the songs you want to keep via iTunes again.

So should I get iTunes Match?
If you don't use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, the answer is almost an instant "no." (Unless you're really desperate to match your songs up for?256-Kbps AAC DRM-free copies.)

If you do use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, but have more than 25,000 songs in your library, the answer is a definite "no."

If you do use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, have fewer than 25,000 songs in your library,?and are looking for a way to easily back up and sync your music, then by all means: Go for it.

Related stories:

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/16/8837931-itunes-match-review-not-made-in-heaven

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