Arab League approves Syria sanctions

BEIRUT?? The Arab League overwhelmingly approved sanctions Sunday against Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly eight-month crackdown on dissent, an unprecedented move by the League against an Arab state.

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Before the vote, Damascus slammed the vote as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. Besides punishing an already ailing economy, the sanctions are a huge blow for a Syrian regime that considers itself a powerhouse of Arab nationalism.

At a news conference in Cairo, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved the sanctions, which include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank and halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria. Iraq and Lebanon abstained.

"We aim to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people," bin Jassim said.

Story: UN: 'Numerous' reports of child torture by Syria's security forces

The sanctions are the latest in a growing wave of international pressure pushing Syria to end its violent suppression of protests against President Bashar Assad, which the U.N. says has killed more than 3,500 people since March.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out an Arab-brokered peace plan that includes sending observers to the country and pulling tanks from the streets.

"We call on Syria to quickly approve the Arab initiative," he said.

The state-owned Al-Thawra newspaper ran a front-page headline Sunday saying the Arab League is calling for "economic and commercial sanctions targeting the Syrian people." It said the measure is "unprecedented and contradicts the rules of Arab cooperation."

Video: Inside Syria: Underground network of cyber activists keeps revolution alive (on this page)

Since the revolt began, the regime has blamed armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy for the bloodshed.

It is not clear whether Arab sanctions will succeed in pressuring the Syrian regime into ending the violence that has killed dozens of Syrians, week after week. Many fear the violence is pushing the country toward civil war.

Until recently, most of the bloodshed was caused by security forces firing on mainly peaceful protests. Lately, there have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting Assad's forces ? a development that some say plays into the regime's hands by giving government troops a pretext to crack down with overwhelming force.

On Sunday, activists reported fierce clashes in the flashpoint city of Homs, in central Syria, pitting soldiers against army defectors.

The death toll from violence in Homs and elsewhere across the country was mounting Sunday. The Local Coordinating Committees, a coalition of Syrian activist groups, put the toll at 26, but the figure was impossible to confirm.

Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting inside the country.

Many of the attacks against Syrian security forces are believed to be carried out by a group of army defectors known as the Free Syrian Army.

The Arab League's recommendations for sanctions specified that the Arab bloc will assist Syria with emergency aid through the help of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, working with local civilian groups to deliver goods.

There have been widespread concerns that the unrest in Syria could spill outside its borders, sending unsettling ripples across the region.

Video: Start of a civil war in Syria? (on this page)

Syria is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East, bordering five countries with whom it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of allegiances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy.

Also Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh acknowledged that 100 Syrian military and police deserters have taken refuge in the kingdom during the uprising. It was the first official public confirmation that Jordan hosts Syrian defectors.

In September, officials said privately that Jordan had received 60 Syrian army and police deserters, who ranged in rank from corporal to colonel.

Judeh told The Associated Press that the Syrian soldiers and policemen, whom he claimed were conscripts rather than officers, had arrived in batches over the last eight months.

Many Syrians fleeing Assad's crackdown have also sought refuge in neighboring Turkey.

The Gulf nations of Qatar and Bahrain on Sunday warned their citizens to avoid travel to Syria and called on those already there to leave immediately. The foreign affairs ministries of both countries cited concerns about the security situation in issuing the travel alerts. They did not mention the planned Arab League vote.

The calls come two days after the United Arab Emirates issued a similar warning to its citizens.

The embassies of the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were targeted by pro-Assad regime demonstrators in Damascus earlier this month.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45451537/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Divergent views signal tough climate talks ahead (AP)

DURBAN, South Africa ? With heat-trapping carbon at record levels in the atmosphere, U.N. climate negotiations opened Monday with pressure building to salvage the only treaty limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S., Europe and the developing countries laid out diverging positions at the outset, signaling tough talks ahead even as South African President Jacob Zuma called for national interests to be laid aside "for a common good and benefit of all humanity."

As if to illustrate the effects of global warming, a fierce storm on the eve of the talks flooded shack settlements and killed at least five people in the port city hosting the international gathering. In a statement, municipal officials said the toll could go as high as 10, based on unconfirmed reports. The climate talks were not affected, though the roof of the sprawling center where the conference was being held was damaged.

Scientists say such unusual weather has become more frequent and will continue to happen more often as the Earth warms, although it is impossible to attribute any individual event to climate change.

The talks face a looming one-year deadline with the expiry next December of the commitment by 37 industrial countries to cut carbon emissions, as required under the Kyoto Protocol. At issue is whether those countries would accept another period of greater emission reductions.

As the talks opened, Canadian television reported that Ottawa will announce its formal withdraw from the Kyoto accord next month. Canada, joined by Japan and Russia, said last year it will not accept new commitments, but renouncing the accord would be another setback to the treaty concluded with much fanfare in 1997.

Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent said he would neither confirm or deny the report.

"This isn't the day. This is not the time to make an announcement," he said.

"Countries are running away from the Kyoto Protocol," said Artur Runge-Metzker, the chief negotiator for the European Union.

Canada's withdrawal would not immediately affect the Durban talks, he said. But doubts about the Kyoto deal were one reason the EU was conditioning its acceptance of new commitments on an agreement in Durban from China, India and other major emitting countries that they will adopt legally binding commitments by 2015.

Developing countries say Kyoto is the only instrument that binds wealthy countries to specific targets.

The protocol was "the cornerstone of the climate regime, and its second commitment period is the essential priority for the success of the Durban conference," Chinese delegate Su Wei told the inaugural session.

U.S. chief delegate Jonathan Pershing said the United States, which shunned Kyoto as unfair, would accept legally binding emissions limits in the future as long as all major emitters took on equal legal obligations.

But the U.S. wants to know exactly what such an agreement would contain before it agreed to the principle of a legal treaty ? which would require the endorsement of two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.

"Putting the form of the action before the substance doesn't make a great deal of sense," Pershing told reporters.

Opposition in Congress, which includes outspoken climate skeptics and a Republican majority generally considered climate-unfriendly, has prompted a widespread belief that U.S. negotiators are foot-dragging on emissions issues.

Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s top climate official, said Kyoto's future is "the defining issue of this conference." She said an extension of Kyoto targets is linked to pledges that developing countries must make to join the fight against climate change.

The task is daunting, she said, then she quoted anti-apartheid legend and former President Nelson Mandela: "It always seems impossible until it is done."

In his address opening the conference, Zuma said global warming already is causing suffering and conflict in Africa, from drought in Sudan and Somalia to flooding in South Africa.

"For most people in the developing world and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death," said the South African leader.

Zuma said Sudan's drought is partly responsible for tribal wars there, and that drought and famine have driven people from their homes in Somalia. Floods along the South African coast have cost people their homes and jobs, he said.

"Change and solutions are always possible. In these talks, state parties will need to look beyond their national interests to find a global solution for a common good and benefit of all humanity."

One of the greatest threats of global warming is to food supplies.

In its first global assessment of the planet's resources, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that farmers will have to produce 70 percent more food by 2050 to meet the needs of the world's expected 9 billion-strong population.

But most available farmland is already being farmed, and in ways that decrease productivity through practices that lead to soil erosion and wasting of water, the FAO said in a report released Monday in Rome.

Climate change compounded problems caused by poor farming practices, it found. Adjusting to a changing world will require $1 trillion in irrigation water management alone for developing countries by 2015, the FAO said.

___

Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_bi_ge/af_climate_conference

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Video: Decision 2012: What Obama needs to do to win

October 30: Plouffe, roundtable

Nearly a year away from the 2012 election, we?ll talk to the president?s 2008 campaign manager, now White House Senior Adviser, David Plouffe. Then author of the definitive new biography on the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson; Author of the new book ?The Time of Our Lives,? NBC News Special Correspondent, Tom Brokaw; Former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm; and Republican strategist, Mike Murphy.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/45452922#45452922

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NASA Rover 'Curiosity' Set For Saturday Launch

It's not so much the delta V needed for Europe..

The design environment is MUCH tougher. Mars is pretty benign radiation-wise.. 20krad total dose would be a typical requirement. Europa needs megarad total dose parts and even then, you might wind up with herculean efforts for shielding and fault tolerance.

The telecom problem is harder for Europa.. you're at 5-6 AU instead of 0.5 to 2 AU, so you need either need bigger antennas (tough on a lander), or a combination lander and orbiter relay, or bigger RF powe

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/E3ZE1DTeJCo/nasa-rover-curiosity-set-for-saturday-launch

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NASA launches super-size rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!' (AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? A rover of "monster truck" proportions zoomed toward Mars on an 8 1/2-month, 354 million-mile journey Saturday, the biggest, best equipped robot ever sent to explore another planet.

NASA's six-wheeled, one-armed wonder, Curiosity, will reach Mars next summer and use its jackhammer drill, rock-zapping laser machine and other devices to search for evidence that Earth's next-door neighbor might once have been home to the teeniest forms of life.

More than 13,000 invited guests jammed the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday morning to witness NASA's first launch to Mars in four years, and the first flight of a Martian rover in eight years.

Mars fever gripped the crowd.

NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, wore a bright blue, short-sleeve blouse emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!" She jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the Atlas V rocket blasted off. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's laser blaster, called ChemCam.

Surrounded by 50 U.S. and French members of his team, Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared into a cloudy sky. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.

A few miles away at the space center's visitor complex, Lego teamed up with NASA for a toy spacecraft-building event for children this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The irresistible lure: 800,000 Lego bricks.

The 1-ton Curiosity ? 10 feet tall, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast ? is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and with unprecedented skill, analyze them right on the spot.

It's as big as a car. But NASA's Mars exploration program director calls it "the monster truck of Mars."

"It's an enormous mission. It's equivalent of three missions, frankly, and quite an undertaking," said the ecstatic program director, Doug McCuistion. "Science fiction is now science fact. We're flying to Mars. We'll get it on the ground and see what we find."

The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time ? or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.

Curiosity's 7-foot arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras.

With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.

No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated.

The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.

Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.

"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."

Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.

In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.

Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.

Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.

Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen from among more than 50 potential landing sites because it's so rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it may well be there.

The rover should go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.

NASA expects to put at least 12 miles on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.

McCuistion anticipates being blown away by the never-before-seen vistas. "Those first images are going to just be stunning, I believe. It will be like sitting in the bottom of the Grand Canyon," he said at a post-launch news conference.

This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.

Unlike Juno and Grail, Curiosity suffered development programs and came in two years late and nearly $1 billion over budget. Scientists involved in the project noted Saturday that the money is being spent on Earth, not Mars, and the mission is costing every American about the price of a movie.

"I'll leave you to judge for yourself whether or not that's a movie you'd like to see," said California Institute of Technology's John Grotzinger, the project scientist. "I know that's one I would."

___

Online:

NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Lego: http://legospace.com/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_sc/us_sci_mars_rover

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Mexico finds 16 burned bodies in drug lord's home state (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexican authorities found the burned bodies of 16 people in the home state of the country's most powerful drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, the attorney general's office of Sinaloa said on Wednesday.

The bodies were discovered in two locations in Culiacan, the capital city of Sinaloa, the northwestern state after which Guzman's powerful cartel is named, an official at the attorney general's office said.

Sinaloa has long been violent, but Guzman wields considerable control over the state and there have been few reports of mass killings there in recent months. Two weeks ago one of Guzman's top lieutenants in Sinaloa was captured.

Firefighters discovered the scorched corpses of 11 men and a woman in the back of a truck in a residential street in Culiacan.

Authorities were then alerted to a burning vehicle near a supermarket, the official said. There the charred bodies of four men were found stuffed into the back of a pickup truck, which appeared to have been set on fire by gasoline. Police are investigating.

Mexican media reported that four other bodies were found just outside Culiacan, but authorities could not confirm this.

On November 10, Mexico arrested Ovidio Limon Sanchez, the head of Guzman's operations in Culiacan.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed the army to crack down on powerful criminal gangs and some 45,000 people have died in the conflict since he took office. The government has captured or killed dozens of high-level drug smugglers.

(Reporting by Rachel Uranga)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/wl_nm/us_mexico_bodies

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Jessica Simpson: Pregnancy in Crisis?

After confirming she is pregnant just before Halloween, Jessica Simpson has been on cloud nine. After years of romantic woes, a lifelong dream is coming true.

But is it all on the verge of crashing down?

As Jessica grows bigger with every day, so do emotional and medical crises that are ruining what should be an ecstatic time, according to a report in OK!

We know, we know. They claim the strife over her now-delayed wedding to Eric Johnson, and medical problems, are threatening her health and her child.

Not every day to you see a tabloid make up a miscarriage threat.

"She's said it's been a difficult pregnancy, she's been dizzy and nauseous," a pal says.

Adds another insider: "She was unprepared for how hard it would be on her body."

We're sure she's fine, physically. As far as her supposed betrayal by Eric Johnson, that's another story. Their relationship was fast track, and their pregnancy likely unplanned.

Their wedding date had to be scuttled, and now there's reportedly tension over a prenup. Are they still happy? Will they tie the knot next year? We hope so, but time will tell.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/jessica-simpson-pregnancy-in-crisis/

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New questions arise in no-show worker scandal (hamptonroads)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/165415433?client_source=feed&format=rss

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India loosens restrictions on foreign retailers

FILE - In this April 28, 2011 file photo, Indians crowd a vegetable market in Ahmadabad, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE - In this April 28, 2011 file photo, Indians crowd a vegetable market in Ahmadabad, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE - In this May 30, 2009 file photo, workers walk during the inauguration ceremony of the first Wal-Mart/Bharti Enterprises joint venture store in Amritsar, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2011 file photo, a Kashmiri fruit vendor waits for customers at a local market in Srinagar, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

FILE - In this May 30, 2009 file photo, a worker adjusts goods inside the first newly inaugurated Wal-Mart/Bharti Enterprises joint venture store in Amritsar, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - In this Jan, 12, 2011 file photo, vendors wait for customers at a vegetable market in New Delhi, India. India's Cabinet decided Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 to allow more direct foreign investment in the nation's huge retail industry, a move that could strengthen the country's food supply chain and open India to giant global retailers such as Wal-Mart. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)

NEW DELHI (AP) ? India is opening its $400 billion retail industry to global chains such as Wal-Mart in a move that could improve decrepit infrastructure that causes massive food waste in a country plagued by malnutrition and high inflation.

Top retailers have lobbied for years for a chance to build stores in the nation of 1.2 billion people and political deadlock on long-promised reforms in retail and other areas has helped cool foreign investor interest in India. Foreign retailers have Indian partners in wholesale operations, but no retail stores.

"Multibrand" stores such as supermarkets could be built with up to 51 percent foreign ownership under the change the Cabinet approved Thursday. The Cabinet also allowed 100 percent foreign ownership of single-brand retail operations, up from 51 percent.

Advocates see the move as a way to strengthen India's creaking food distribution system.

The country suffers chronically high malnutrition and soaring inflation, but it's not for lack of food. It is the world's second largest grower of fresh produce, yet loses an estimated 40 percent of its fruit and vegetables to rot because of a lack of refrigerated trucking and warehouses, poor roads, inclement weather and corruption. That translates into lower incomes for farmers and higher prices for consumers.

If companies such as Wal-Mart and Tesco can open shops of their own, they may invest billions in improving farming techniques and getting produce into stores more efficiently, bringing down food inflation ? which has averaged 10.5 percent over the last year ? and possibly improving rural incomes.

Wal-Mart, British-based Tesco PLC and French-based retailer Carrefour welcomed the decision.

"This legal evolution should contribute to modernize the Indian food supply chain and to fight against food inflation for the benefit of Indian customers," Carrefour said in a statement. It said the decision would help India's farmers and the nation's general economic development.

Opposition parties and some allies of the government resisted the move. The country has struggled to find consensus because of concerns that competition from the foreign retail giants could hurt millions of small shopkeepers, as well as the poor.

Speaking on the NDTV news channel, ruling Congress party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi called the decision "centrist and reasonable."

The main opposition, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, decried the move.

"The government has clearly bowed to international pressure," spokesman Chandan Mitra told the same TV channel.

India's $400 billion retail sector is the nation's second-largest employer, after agriculture, according to consulting firm Deloitte.

The Ministry of Commerce says it will cost 76.9 billion rupees ($1.7 billion US) to build the additional 35 million metric tons of food storage India needs. In a July paper, it suggested that loosening restrictions on foreign investment in India's retail sector could be the best way to get more storage space built.

Ashish Sanyal, managing director of retailing consultancy AMP Retail Services, said small businesses had nothing to fear from the big chains.

"At the end of the day this is like the high tide. All boats will rise. We will learn from the big retailers."

Long delays in economic reforms in India have made investors increasingly wary of plowing money into the country.

India's policymakers are now under acute pressure to find ways to attract foreign currency to help strengthen the rupee, which hit an all-time low against the dollar this week.

Traders say the central bank has been buying rupees in recent days but those measures are unlikely to reverse the currency's plunge absent more farsighted policy reform.

The discussions on opening up India's retail sector have been going on for 10 years.

"There is a limit to how much time we can spend on a decision," said Singhvi, the Congress spokesman.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-24-AS-India-Retailers/id-a47c233c7339456381c6afccaf0e5084

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Motorola Droid RAZR source code released

If you like poking around in some source code files to see what you can see, then Motorola has now given something to do. The Droid RAZR source code has been released on sourceforge and while it's not much use to anyone aside from developers that's not really the point. Point is, it's there -- it's available for all whom wish to view it.

Source: Sourceforge; thanks to everyone who sent this in

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Tdu5uYctW44/story01.htm

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World Bank: China faces Europe risk, soft landing possible (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? China's economy faces growing risks from Europe's sovereign debt crisis and from debt held by local Chinese governments but it could engineer a soft landing by easing monetary policy, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

In a semi-annual East Asia and Pacific economic update, the World Bank nudged up its 2011 growth forecast for China but expects growth to moderate from next year as overseas economies slow and Beijing steers the economy to rely less on investment and manufacturing.

The lender also slashed growth forecasts for developing Asia, excluding China, due to weak export demand from developed countries and as widespread flooding has hit Thailand's manufacturing base.

"On balance, we believe that while there are issues (in China), they are being managed and the magnitude of those issues does not add up to something that would lead necessarily to a major slowdown as some have talked about," Bert Hofman, World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, said.

China will grow 9.1 percent this year, the World Bank said, slightly higher than the bank's previous forecast of 9.0 percent growth issued in March. In 2012, growth will slow to 8.4 percent, it said.

China can continue growing at a 9 to 10 percent per annum pace for the foreseeable future, based on the experience of other countries with a per capita gross domestic product of around $5,000, Hofman said, which is slightly more than China's per capita GDP.

China's growth this year is below last year's level as weakening external demand has hurt investment and exports, the bank said. Monetary policy tightening also slowed investment this year, but there is now more room to normalize policy as inflation is waning, the bank said.

China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan said over the weekend that a long-term global recession is certain and China should focus on solving problems in its economy.

Policies to curb gains in land prices could put some local governments that borrowed heavily under pressure, the World Bank said.

Still, deleveraging is unlikely to match the scale of the U.S. property market as Chinese households tend to put more money down in advance and have smaller mortgages, according to the report.

A recent World Bank study with the International Monetary Fund also showed that China's banking system can withstand exchange rate and interest rate shocks, Hofman said.

Excluding China, developing East Asia will expand 4.7 percent this year, much slower than the previous forecast of 5.3 percent growth, as a slowdown in developed countries and tighter monetary policy dented growth, the bank said.

Investors shifting money out of Asian countries could lead to more stock and bond market volatility, but this could help some countries that are trying to contain asset prices, the report said.

Asian countries could also face significant spillover if a disorderly sovereign debt restructuring in Europe hurts the flow of trade and financing, the bank said.

Malaysia in particular could be vulnerable if European banks suddenly curtail lending as it has loans from European banks worth more than 25 percent of its GDP, the report said.

Barring this scenario, portfolio flows could continue to favor Asia for some time to come, according to the bank.

"There is a lot of liquidity out there that will start looking for yields again once financial stability settles in again," Hofman said.

Public finances give many Asian countries room to boost stimulus spending if needed, but governments should focus on long-term investments to improve education, social security and labor productivity, the bank said.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Lim in Singapore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111122/ts_nm/us_worldbank_economy

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Report: Did Kate Gosselin Have a Facelift?

It seems as though Kate Gosselin might be pursuing the Beverly Hills fountain of youth. According to a recent report, there's speculation that the reality TV star may have gone under the knife again and received a facelift to help her face shed some years.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/report-did-kate-gosselin-have-facelift/1-a-404932?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Areport-did-kate-gosselin-have-facelift-404932

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Soyuz with three astronauts lands in Kazakhstan (AP)

MOSCOW ? A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts returning from the International Space Station touched down safely in the snow-covered steppes of Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning.

NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency landed at the break of dawn some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk at 8:26 a.m. (0226 GMT) after spending 165 days in space.

The landing at steppe was close to its target point.

NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said in the NASA television broadcast that the recovery operation was swift despite the freezing weather and strong wind.

Video from the site showed the Soyuz capsule, blackened by the intense heat of re-entry, lying on its side as the astronauts were extracted.

The three men looked well and smiling, although Furukawa looked visibly exhausted. They were seated in chairs and wrapped in warm blankets to help them get adjusted to gravity after spending four months in space.

Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Center, said all three astronauts are in good health.

NASA's Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin remain onboard the International Space Station and are due to return to Earth in March. They arrived at the station on Wednesday. A launch next month will take the station back to its normal six-person crew.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_sc/sci_space_station

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Egypt Cabinet offers to resign but protests go on (AP)

CAIRO ? Egypt's civilian Cabinet offered to resign Monday after three days of violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Tahrir Square, but the action failed to satisfy protesters deeply frustrated with the new military rulers.

The Health Ministry and a doctor at an improvised field hospital on the square said at least 26 people have been killed and 1,750 wounded in the latest violence as activists sought to fill the streets for a "second revolution" to force out the generals who have failed to stabilize the country, salvage the economy or bring democracy.

Throughout the day, young protesters demanding the military hand over power to a civilian government fought with black-clad police, hurling stones and firebombs and throwing back the tear gas canisters being fired by police into the square, which was the epicenter of the movement that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

By midnight tens of thousands of protesters were in the huge downtown square.

The clashes have deepened the disarray among Egypt's political ranks, with the powerful Muslim Brotherhood balking at joining in the demonstrations, fearing that turmoil will disrupt elections next week that the Islamists expect to dominate.

The protests in Tahrir and elsewhere across this nation of some 85 million people have forced the ruling military council as well as the Cabinet it backs into two concessions, but neither were significant enough to send anyone home.

The council issued an anti-graft law that bans anyone convicted of corruption from running for office or holding a government post, a move that is likely to stop senior members from the Mubarak regime from running for public office.

Hours later, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf submitted its resignation to the council, a move that was widely expected given the government's perceived inefficiency and its almost complete subordination to the generals.

Protesters cheered and shouted "God is great!" when the news arrived of the Cabinet resignation offer, but they almost immediately resumed their chant of "The people want to topple the field marshal" ? a reference to military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

"We are not clearing the square until there is a national salvation government that is representative and has full responsibility," said activist Rami Shaat, who was at the site.

The council released a statement late Monday calling for a national dialogue to "urgently study the reasons for the current crisis and ways to overcome it."

The statement, carried by Egypt's state news agency, said the military deeply regrets the loss of life and has ordered the Justice Ministry to form a committee to investigate the incidents of the past few days. The military said it ordered security forces to take measures that would protect demonstrators, who have the right to peaceful protest.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United States was deeply concerned about the violence and urged restraint on all sides so Egypt could proceed with a timely transition to democracy.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also deplored the loss of life and called on authorities "to guarantee the protection of human rights and civil liberties for all Egyptians, including the right to peaceful protest," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Amnesty International harshly criticized the military rulers in a new report, saying they have "completely failed to live up their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights."

The London-based group documented steps by the military that have fallen short of increasing human rights and in some cases have made matters worse than under Mubarak.

"The euphoria of the uprising has been replaced by fears that one repressive rule has simply been replaced with another," according to the report, issued Tuesday.

The report called for repeal of the Mubarak-era "emergency laws," expanded to cover "thuggery" and criticizing the military. It said the army has placed arbitrary restrictions on media and other outlets.

Egyptian security forces have continued to use torture against demonstrators, the report said, and some 12,000 civilians have been tried in military trials, which it called "unfair."

In many ways, the protests in Tahrir bore a striking resemblance to the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak. The chants are identical, except that Tantawi's name has replaced Mubarak's.

"The people want the execution of the marshal," protesters screamed Monday. The hallmark chant of "erhal," or "leave," that once was aimed at Mubarak is now meant for Tantawi, his defense minister for 20 years.

Some of the protesters demanded that the generals immediately step down in favor of a presidential civilian council.

"If the military steps down, then who will be left to run the country until elections are held?" said Ahmed Fathy, a 27-year-old dentist who prefers a date for the handover rather than the departure of the military now. "The military can strike back by turning the nation against us."

About 5,000 to 7,000 protesters were in Tahrir Square for most of the day but the number rose to around 30,000 after nightfall ? nowhere near filling it but displaying the strength of the movement despite the military's tireless campaign to marginalize the youths who drove Mubarak from office. Protesters also marched in other cities, including thousands of students in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Unlike in January and February when the demonstrators were united against Mubarak, the latest protests reflect political divisions and Egypt's growing economic hardships and tenuous security.

Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest and best-organized political group, are not taking part in the protests this time, a stand that has been widely seen as motivated by a desire not to get involved in anything that could disturb parliamentary elections that are due to start Nov. 28 and conclude in March.

But the Brotherhood, whose supporters gave muscle to the protesters in January and February, may have underestimated the appeal of the secular-minded activists and the depth of anger over the military rulers' failings and the inefficiency of the Cabinet that the generals support.

To many of the protesters, the Brotherhood and its allies, mainly the ultraconservative Salafis, are more keen on winning parliamentary seats than the future of the nation.

That so many protesters are in Tahrir Square without the participation of the Islamists could provide the liberal pro-reform groups with a boost that would fuel their movement in the face of the military's perceived intransigence.

"We don't need them," Zeinab Kheir, a lawyer and an activist, said referring to the Brotherhood, vilified by many activists as an opportunistic, self-serving group.

"We want the (military) council to leave immediately so we can continue our revolution, which the military sold out," said Mohammed Ali, a shoemaker among the protesters. "A civilian Cabinet from the square is what we want."

The divisions between the secularists and Islamists surfaced in the square Monday when senior Brotherhood leader Mohammed el-Beltagy was heckled by protesters who threw water bottles at him. He hurriedly left.

However, moderate Islamists from two groups ? the Wasat, or Centrist party, and supporters of presidential hopeful Abdel-Monaem Abul Fetouh ? said they would take part in a big protest dubbed "National Salvation" planned for Tuesday.

Throughout the day, the sounds of gunfire crackled around Tahrir Square, and a constant stream of injured protesters ? bloodied from rubber bullets or overcome by tear gas ? were brought on motorbikes into makeshift clinics on sidewalks, where volunteer doctors scrambled from patient to patient.

A morgue official said the toll had climbed to 24 dead since the violence began Saturday ? a jump from the toll of five dead around nightfall Sunday, reflecting the ferocity of fighting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the numbers.

Since Mubarak fell and the military took over, Egypt's revolution has been mired in frustration and confusion. Activists and many in the public accuse the generals of seeking to hold on to power, and they fear that the military will dominate the next government no matter who wins the election. Many Egyptians are also frustrated by the failure of the military and the caretaker government to conduct any real reforms, halt widespread insecurity or salvage a rapidly worsening economy.

The military says it will hand over power only after presidential elections, which it has vaguely said will be held in late 2012 or early 2013.

On Monday, a group of 133 diplomats from the Foreign Ministry took the rare step of issuing a petition demanding that the military commit to hold presidential elections and transfer power by 2012.

"What does it mean, transfer power in 2013? It means simply that he wants to hold on to his seat," said protester Mohammed Sayyed, referring to Tantawi.

Sayyed carried two rocks as he took cover from tear gas in a sidestreet off Tahrir Square. He wore a bandage on his head after being hit by what he said was a rubber bullet.

"I will keep coming back until they kill me," he said. "The people are frustrated. Nothing changed for the better."

___

Associated Press writers Ben Hubbard, Aya Batrawy and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

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My Pillow Pets Moose Assessment | Watch My Gear

I have always believed that a moose is a neat bestial, a huge animal but a neat a single. And apparently some stuffed bestial firms do concur with me, due to the fact there has been some accomplishment selling these objects to children. 1 of my preferred seeking stuffed animal moose would have to be the My Pillow Pets Moose model. This fantastic product is like all Pillow Pets, in the truth that it can become a stuffed bestial or a pillow, and it is really effortless to alter back and forth. The following is a general assessment of the solution that will ideally give you some excellent data about this merchandise.

For starters, you are likely to be getting that fantastic moose visual appeal that you would want from any stuffed bestial. This is going to include a dark brown human body coloration, with a smiling deal with, and most importantly people large lighter coloured antlers. This firm did a great occupation capturing the look mothers and fathers and children are likely to want for their stuffed animals. This is a big reason why they are so profitable.

Because these products are so well-liked, and since they seem so very good, you are going to have a broad variety to select from. Most folks pick the My Pillow Pets Moose 18? product. That is due to the fact this would be regarded as the total sized edition, and the version children like the most. Kids adore big stuffed animals, and this is certainly a single of them. The other principal alternative is the My Pillow Pets Moose 11? version. This is also a great seeking product and it seems to be exactly the very same as the even larger edition. The only variation is you are going to spend a little significantly less on it, and of course it is a little smaller sized.

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Source: http://watchmygear.com/2011/my-pillow-pets-moose-assessment-2/

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Sri Lankan president receives report on war abuses (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka ? A Sri Lankan commission that investigated alleged abuses during the country's civil war delivered its final report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday, amid rising international pressure for an independent probe on war crimes allegations.

The report by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was not immediately released to the media. Presidential spokesman Bandula Jayasekara said the president has stated that he will present the report to Parliament, which would make it a public document.

The government appointed the commission last year under intense international pressure to probe possible war crimes in the final stages of the war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

It gathered evidence from ethnic minority Tamils, government officials, politicians, civil and religious leaders and former rebels. International rights groups refused to testify before it, saying the commission is pro-government, had no mandate to investigate the killings and did not meet international standards.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake earlier this year warned that failure to establish accountability through a domestic investigation could lead to "pressure from the international community to look at some kind of international option." Sri Lanka called for patience from the international community, saying the commission would address their concerns.

The United Nations says at least 7,000 civilians were killed in just the last five months of the war. Sri Lankan government soldiers crushed the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, ending the island's 25-year civil war.

A report by a U.N. panel of experts last year accused both the government and rebels of potential war crimes and recommended an independent international inquiry.

The report said the experts have found credible allegations that government troops shelled civilians and hospitals, and blocked food and medicine from reaching the war zone. The rebels were accused of recruiting child soldiers, and holding civilians as human shields and killing civilians who tried to escape their control.

The Sri Lankan government called the U.N. report biased and rejected an international probe, but acknowledged for the first time in August that civilian casualties occurred in the final phase of the conflict, calling the deaths unavoidable.

Britain's Channel 4 television has also aired a series of clips that allegedly show Sri Lankan soldiers shooting blindfolded men and women at close range.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_re_as/as_sri_lanka_war_report

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Official: Drug cartel tried to skew Mexico vote (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? A Mexican official says drug traffickers tried to influence elections in the western state of Michoacan, a charge some of the candidates and party leaders in the race have already made.

Juan Marcos Gutierrez says a drug cartel conducted "boldfaced interference" in last Sunday's state elections. The Knights Templar cartel dominates most of Michoacan.

Gutierrez calls the threats and pressure used by the traffickers "extremely worrisome."

Gutierrez served about a week as interim interior secretary before handing over the post to newly designated secretary Alejandro Poire on Thursday.

The interior department oversees domestic security in Mexico.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111119/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

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Johnson County communications center budget to be lowered ...

The large tax and spending increases proposed for Johnson County?s joint emergency communications center next fiscal year will be lowered, officials said Friday.

?There?s no question? that will happen, Pat Harney, chairman of the center?s board and a county supervisor, said after a public hearing and meeting on the budget.

The question is how much they will come down.

Last week, the center?s executive director, Gary Albrecht, issued a budget calling for 43 percent more in property taxes and 26 percent more in expenditures for the fiscal year that starts July 1. (The board budgeted $333,366 in cash reserves this year on top of the tax money, which puts the proposed revenue increase at closer to 27 percent rather than 43 percent.)

The budget was met with harsh criticism from some of Harney?s fellow members of the Board of Supervisors, including Rod Sullivan, who attended Friday?s meeting. He said, given the economy, most local governments are calling for flat or slight increases in their budgets.

?The idea that it is even proposed that high is, I think, crazy,? he said.

Terry Dahms of Iowa City agreed.

?I think the public is saying enough is enough,? he told the communications center?s board. ?This increase is amazing. This budget is not acceptable.?

The center, which opened last year, combines dispatchers and radio systems for public safety and emergency medical personnel in the county.

It is run by a seven-member policy board with representatives from the county, Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency.

Friday?s meeting was the first time those board members met to discuss the budget. They sent it back to Albrecht for him to rework the numbers. They?ll discuss it again at a Nov. 28 meeting.

The main item to be addressed is how much money the center should have in its reserve fund, which is like a savings account.

The current budget calls for $500,000 more in the reserve, which accounts for most of the proposed increase in expenditures from just less than $3 million this fiscal year to nearly $3.8 million next year.

Sullivan said reserves, which are kept for emergencies like if a storm took out some equipment, should be as low as possible. He said the county could quickly bond for those expenses.

The advantage of bonding is the money would come from all taxpayers, whereas reserves in the budget do not include money from tax increment financing districts, which account for nearly $759 million in property valuation in Johnson County.

Iowa City Manager Tom Markus, who was sitting in for City Council member Regenia Bailey on the center?s board, suggested that, given the history of tension between the board and the county?s supervisors, a formal agreement be reached on the bonding issue.

The communications center board also is seeking clarification on $275,000 the county?s E911 board committed to the center for next fiscal year. It?s not clear if that is additional money from what is in the center?s budget now. If it is, the expenditures, and then the tax askings, could be lowered by that amount.

Source: http://thegazette.com/2011/11/18/johnson-county-communications-center-budget-to-be-lowered/

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Police vs. Occupiers: The controversial 'sound cannon' weapon (The Week)

New York ? Forget tear gas and mace. The cops' LRAD sound cannon is really making some noise ? and potentially blowing out Occupiers' eardrums

Riot police have begun deploying a non-lethal weapon called a long range acoustic device ? LRAD, for short ? against Occupy Movement protesters across the country. The controversial crowd-control device, which blasts targets with powerful sound waves capable of causing "extreme pain,"?can sometimes even lead to permanent hearing loss. The device?has been spotted during the recent evictions at New York's Zuccotti Park and Occupy Oakland's encampment. Here's what you should know: ?

How does it work?
LRAD systems are used by airports "to sonically deter birds from residing in the paths of aircrafts," says Roberto Baldwin at Gizmodo. But when used for crowd control, the LRAD is aimed like a beam to debilitate anyone within its 300-meter range with high-pitched frequencies.

What happens when the cannon is aimed at you?
You might get a headache, feel extreme pain, or even lose your hearing. Think of it this way ? a conversation in a restaurant is roughly 60 decibels. A dishwasher is 80. A live rock concert is 110. And?"human discomfort" starts when a noise hits 120 decibels ? imagine a chainsaw. Still, that's "well below the LRAD's threshold," says Baldwin. Permanent damage starts at 130 decibels, and at 140 decibels, targets "could potentially lose their balance and be unable to move out of the path of the audio." While a military-grade LRAD 2000X can go north of 160 decibels, Baldwin says police generally use a less potent version of the device, the LRAD 500X.

And LRADS have been used on Occupiers?
They have. In the clearing of protesters from Zuccotti Park earlier this week, the "NYPD descended on the park with deafening... LRAD noise cannons and several stadiums' worth of blinding Klieg lights,"?says Philip Gourevitch at The New Yorker.

Is there any way to protect yourself?
There's a simple, if inelegant solution: "To counter the sound cannons, simply purchase a few packages of ear plugs," says DJ Pangburn at Death + Taxes. Though if an LRAD cannon is ever pointed at you, you'd still be smart to get out of the way.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111118/cm_theweek/221633

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MJ Rosenberg: Ehud Barak: Iran Nuclear Program Not About Israel (Huffington post)

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Harvard faker ordered to undergo psych evaluation (AP)

WOBURN, Mass. ? A Delaware man convicted of fraud for faking his way into Harvard was ordered Thursday to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after a Massachusetts judge found he violated his probation by putting the Ivy League school on his resume.

Adam Wheeler was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in jail and 10 years' probation on identity fraud and other charges. He served one month in jail while awaiting trial, and the remainder of the sentence was suspended.

Woburn Superior Court Judge Diane Kottmyer on Thursday ordered that Wheeler undergo a 40-day evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital, saying it appears his behavior stems in part from mental illness.

Kottmyer said there is an "element of compulsivity" in Wheeler's behavior. She said a report from doctors would help her decide whether she should send the 25-year-old Wheeler to jail.

Prosecutors have said Wheeler got into Harvard by falsely claiming he attended the exclusive Phillips Academy prep school in Andover and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he obtained about $45,000 in financial aid. They now say Wheeler should serve the rest of his sentence.

Wheeler's attorney, Steven Sussman, has acknowledged his client violated the provision not to represent himself as a Harvard student or graduate, but he said it was a mistake brought on by financial pressure after Wheeler lost a job in July. Wheeler was supporting himself and paying court-ordered restitution to Harvard.

Wheeler sent a resume and letter in September to a Boston-area company, where it was read by a former Harvard student who was aware of his case, prosecutors said.

Wheeler, formerly of Milton, Del., was thrown out of Harvard in 2009 after he sought the university's endorsement for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships and officials discovered he had lied about his record, including claiming to have co-written books, taught courses and given lectures.

He then was accepted at Stanford as a transfer student, but his admission was revoked after his arrest in the Harvard case.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_fraud_probe

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The LEO business computer: 6,000 valves, 2KB memory, one happy birthday (video)

The world's first business computer just had a blow-out bash to celebrate the 60th year since its inception, courtesy of some timely sponsorship from Google. LEO was your classic room-filling clunkfest, built by British food manufacturer Lyons to help process its payroll and accounts. It was born at a time when the advancements made at Bletchley Park were still top secret, and when -- according to a 1954 issue of the Economist -- there were still people who did not believe in the "desirability of introducing anything as esoteric as electronics into business routine." Your ride to a bygone era awaits right after the break.

Continue reading The LEO business computer: 6,000 valves, 2KB memory, one happy birthday (video)

The LEO business computer: 6,000 valves, 2KB memory, one happy birthday (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/17/the-leo-business-computer-6-000-valves-2kb-memory-one-happy-b/

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Officials: Gunman shot by UC Berkeley cops dies

BERKELEY, Calif.?? An undergraduate student shot by campus police after brandishing a loaded gun at the University of California, Berkeley died at a hospital hours after the confrontation, a university spokesman said Wednesday.

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Christopher Nathen Elliot Travis, 32, had just started his first semester at Berkeley after transferring from another school, and had been attending classes at the prestigious Haas School of Business, spokesman Dan Mogulof said.

University officials said a staff member first saw the man carrying what appeared to be a gun in an elevator at the business school after 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The staff member called police at 2:17 p.m., saying she saw the man remove the gun from a backpack.

Police officers tracked the suspect into a Haas computer lab. The suspect raised the loaded gun and was shot by an officer at about 2:22 p.m., roughly five minutes after the initial call, according to the school.

At the time, four students were between the officer and the suspect, UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said Tuesday. None of the students was hurt, and Mogulof said there was no evidence to suggest Travis had any intentions to harm others.

Bill Travis, the suspect's father, sobbed during a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in Lodi, Calif. He said he learned his son had been shot Tuesday night, and didn't wish to make any further comment.

As Twitter lit up with concerns and rumors about what had happened following the shooting Tuesday afternoon, news helicopters arrived on the scene and began buzzing overhead.

At 2:53 p.m., campus authorities sent out the first alert to the Berkeley community, saying there had been a shooting at Haas Business School and that police on the scene had the situation under control but that the area should be avoided, said Claire Holmes, an associate vice chancellor for public affairs. Another warning went out at 2:59 p.m. saying the only suspect was in custody.

A third alert went out nearly an hour later, said there was no longer a threat and that campus activities had returned to normal. The official UC Berkeley Twitter account later posted a link to an official university statement describing the incident and saying that Haas had been reopened.

When asked whether the school's emergency alert system was effective given the reporting delay, Holmes said she felt the school had done an admirable job.

"I think that given the situation, you're balancing the urgency to get something out with the knowledge that you currently have, and not creating a situation where people are overly concerned and doing things they shouldn't be doing," she said. "It went out as soon as it was possible."

It was the first on-campus shooting since 1992. In that earlier incident, an Oakland police officer fatally shot a machete-wielding activist from nearby People's Park who had broken into the former chancellor's mansion on the north side of campus.

Mogulof said Wednesday that the suspect was taken to an Oakland hospital, where he died later Tuesday.

"It's a very fast moving investigation," he said. "There were an enormous of witnesses who police had to interview so that's why it's taken this long to get the information out."

Staff, students and administrators gathered at the business school Wednesday morning for a meeting about the shooting. Grief counselors were on hand and classes were held as scheduled Wednesday.

School administrators issued a statement directing students where to find their belongings left behind Tuesday afternoon after the temporary evacuation of the school and cancellation of classes.

The shooting occurred as anti-Wall Street activists were preparing another attempt to establish an Occupy Cal camp after a failed effort last week led to dozens of arrests.

ReFund California, a coalition of student groups and university employee unions, called for a campus strike, and protesters planned a rally and march to protest banks and budget cuts to higher education.

More than 1,000 students, campus employees, faculty and other demonstrators filled an outdoor plaza Tuesday after many took part in morning teach-ins.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45327502/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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