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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Raiders enter final month in prime position
By JOSH DUBOW
updated 6:49 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2011
ALAMEDA, Calif. - The Oakland Raiders head into the final month of the season in a most unusual place after an eight-year stretch of disappointment and losses.
They stand alone in first place in the AFC West.
Oakland (7-4) has a one-game lead on Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos after beating the Chicago Bears 25-20 Sunday. So instead of preparing to play out the string on another failed season, the Raiders head into December with legitimate hopes of winning the division and making it to the playoffs for the first time since winning the 2002 AFC championship.
While most of the players in Oakland have little understanding of what it takes to win meaningful late-season games or of going to the playoffs, there are a few veterans ready to dole out advice.
"Seize the opportunity," said defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who won three Super Bowl titles in New England. "You'd rather play in games like this where every play is meaningful rather than a game where the stands aren't filled. It's so much more fun for everybody. It's a game that we're playing. It's not life or death. ... The bigger the game the more exciting and more fun it is."
Next up for the Raiders is a trip to Miami on Sunday to play the improving Dolphins (3-8). That will be followed by a high-profile game in Green Bay that has already been moved into the national doubleheader window to give it more exposure.
That's a far cry from recent years when the Raiders went through an NFL-worst stretch of seven straight seasons of at least 11 losses.
"It's something new around here and we're going to try and keep it that way," defensive end Lamarr Houston said.
The Raiders solved a few nagging issues in the win against the Bears with the defense limiting Matt Forte to 59 yards rushing and 84 yards from scrimmage ? 55 yards below his league-leading average coming into the game.
Oakland also committed only six penalties for 44 yards and no personal fouls after averaging more than 10 penalties a game coming into the week.
Seymour credits the change to players paying more attention to detail with so much at stake at this point in the season.
"Everyone realizes the opportunity that we have," Seymour said. "You don't want to be the guy that squandered it away. Just trying to play smarter and still play aggressively."
The Raiders also were able to win on a day that the running game was held to 73 yards on 27 carries and big-play threats Darren McFadden, Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore were all sidelined by injuries.
But Carson Palmer threw for 304 yards ? his third time in four starts with at least 299 ? as the Raiders won for just the second time in their past 22 games when they rushed for fewer than 75 yards.
"At the end of the day I think we're growing all across this football team," coach Hue Jackson said. "What we need to do is still put a complete game together where we're playing from the first snap to the last snap and when we do that we've got a chance to be a scary group of players."
The Raiders were in contention a year ago, but knew they needed help to end their playoff drought. They ended up losing a crucial road game in Jacksonville and Kansas City kept winning and Oakland finished 8-8, two games behind the Chiefs.
Now they only need to worry about their own games, knowing if they keep winning the Broncos won't be able to catch them.
"It's a good feeling for us to be able to be in first place and not have to look, 'Oh, hopefully somebody loses,' Or, 'Get this win and hopefully this team loses,'" receiver Louis Murphy said. "It's good to be in control of our own destiny."
Notes: The only injury from the game was LB Rolando McClain, who tweaked his sprained left ankle but returned to action. ... RB Darren McFadden did a light workout on the practice field without a protective boot on his sprained right foot. He has not played since injuring the foot in the first quarter against Kansas City on Oct. 23. "I think that was huge," Jackson said. "I think that's a step in the right direction." ... WR Jacoby Ford said he is making progress to return from his sprained left foot that he hurt in San Diego on Nov. 10 but does not know when he will be able to practice.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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PFT: While the Saints showcased their spectacular offense at home, New York continued on its way to missing the playoffs. Soon, it'll be an historic collapse.
Getty ImagesBrees, Saints blow past hapless Giants
Drew Brees and the surging New Orleans Saints made everything look easy against the slumping Giants.? Brees passed for 363 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score as New Orleans rolled to a 49-24 victory Monday night, extending New York's losing skid to three games.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45469107/ns/sports-nfl/
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Long lines at polls as Egypt holds landmark vote (AP)
CAIRO ? Shaking off years of political apathy, Egyptians turned out in long lines at voting stations Monday in their nation's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a giant step toward what they hope will be a democracy after decades of dictatorship.
The vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory, but it takes place amid sharp polarization among Egyptians and confusion over the nation's direction. On one level, the election is a competition between Islamic parties who want to take Egypt in a direction toward religious rule and more liberal groups that want a separation between religion and politics.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with other Islamists are expected to do well in the vote.
But also weighing heavily on voters' mind was whether this election will really set Egypt on a path of democracy after months of turmoil under the rule of the military, which took power after Mubarak's Feb. 11 fall. Only 10 days before the elections, major protests erupted demanding the generals step aside because of fears they will not allow real freedoms.
Early in the day, voters stood in lines stretching several hundred yards outside some polling centers in Cairo well before they opened at 8 a.m. local time (0600GMT), suggesting a respectable turnout. Many said they were voting for the first time, a sign of an enthusiasm that, in this election, one's vote mattered.
For decades, few Egyptians bothered to cast ballots because nearly every election was rigged, whether by bribery, ballot box stuffing or intimidation by police at the polls. Turnout was often in the single digits.
"I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom," said 50-year-old Iris Nawar at a polling station in Maadi, a Cairo suburb.
"We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them, too," said Nawar, a first-time voter.
Some voters brought their children along, saying they wanted them to learn how to exercise their rights in a democracy. Lines in cities around the country brought out a cross-section of the nation: men in Islamic beards, women in trendy clothes, the conservative headscarf or the niqab ? the most radical Islamic attire covering women's body from head to toe with only the eyes showing.
Many complained that the lines were too long and moved too slowly at the stations, which were heavily guarded by police and soldiers to prevent violence.
"If you have waited for 30 years, can't you wait now for another hour?" an army officer yelled at hundreds of women restless over the wait at one center.
The election is burdened with a long and unwieldy process. It stretched over multiple stages, with different provinces taking their turn to vote with each round. Each round lasts two days. Voting for 498-seat People's Assembly, parliament's lower chamber, will last until January, then elections for the 390-member upper house will drag on until March.
Moreover, there are significant questions over how relevant the new parliament will even be. The ruling military council of generals, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, insists it will maintain considerable powers after the election. It will put together the government and is trying to keep extensive control over the creation of an assembly to write a new constitution, a task that originally was seen as mainly in the parliament's hands.
The protesters who took to Cairo's Tahrir Square and other cities since Nov. 19 in rallies recalling the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak demand the generals surrender power immediately to a civilian government.
Some hoped their vote would help eventually push the generals out.
"We are fed up with the military," said Salah Radwan, waiting outside a polling center in Cairo's middle-class Abdeen neighborhood. "They should go to protect our borders and leave us to rule ourselves. Even if we don't get it right this time, we will get it right next time."
On Monday morning in Tahrir, a relatively small crowd of a few thousand remained to keep the round-the-clock protests going. Clashes during the protests left more than 40 dead have heightened fears of violence at polling stations.
By early afternoon Monday, there were no reports of foul play or violence except in the town of el-Badari in the southern Assiut province when armed men fired at polling centers and prevented voters from reaching them because the name of the candidate they support was not on the ballot. There were no reports of casualties.
For some, the central question in the vote was whether Egypt will go on a more Islamic or secular path.
The Brotherhood entered the campaign armed with a powerful network of activists around the country and years of experience in political activity, even though it was banned under Mubarak's regime. That gave them what many see as a significant advantage over liberal, leftist and secular parties, most of which are newly created since Mubarak's ouster, are not widely known among the public and were plagued by divisions through the past months.
In the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria, thousands of voters braved rain and strong winds to go to the polls. Long lines formed outside polling centers, with voters huddling under umbrellas. At one polling center in the Raml neighborhood, around a half dozen army soldiers stood guard by the ballot boxes inside.
"Choose freely, choose whomever you want to vote for," said one soldier, using a microphone.
Alexandria is a stronghold of the Brotherhood and many voters said they would vote for the group.
"The Muslim Brotherhood are the people who have stood by us when times were difficult," said Ragya el-Said, a 47-year-old lawyer. "We have a lot of confidence in them."
The Brotherhood is facing competition on the religious vote, however, particularly from the even more conservative Salafi movement, which advocates a hard-line Saudi Arabian-style interpretation of Islam. While the Brotherhood shows at times a willingness to play politics and compromise in its ideology, many Salafis make no bones about saying democracy must take a back seat to Islamic law.
"We're scared of the way they talk or that they'll limit our freedom or keep us from building churches," Christian voter Imad Zakhari said about the Islamists. "We had a revolution so we could have more freedom, not less," he said while waiting in line to vote with his 10-year-old son, George, standing next to him.
For many of those who did not want to vote for the Brotherhood or other Islamists, the alternative was not clear.
"I don't know any of the parties or who I'm voting for," she said. "I'll vote for the first names I see I guess," said Teresa Sobhi, a Christian voter in the southern city of Assiut. Still, she said, "there may be hope for Egypt at last, to build it from scratch."
The region is a bastion of Islamists, but also has a significant Christian population.
Across the city in the Walidiya district, teenager Ahmed Gamal was handing flyers urging voters to support the Nour Party of the Salafis.
"We used to be arrested by police under Mubarak for just going to the mosque. Our Nour party will now implement Islamic laws," he enthused as he handed the flyers to voters waiting in line ? a violation of rules barring campaigning at polling centers.
Back in Cairo, Shahira Ahmed, 45, was in line with her husband and daughter along with some 500 voters outside a polling station in a school in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek. She said she was hoping liberals can at least establish some presence in parliament ? "to have a liberal and a civilized country, I mean no fanatics."
And, like many, she was still not sure whether democracy was really on the horizon.
"I never voted because I was never sure it was for real. This time, I hope it is, but I am not positive."
Monday's vote was taking place in nine provinces whose residents account for 24 million of Egypt's estimated 85 million people. Most prominent of the nine provinces are Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city.
Turnout among the estimated 50 million voters will play a key role. A higher turnout could water down the showing of the Brotherhood, since its core of supporters are the most likely to vote. Heavy numbers of voters will also give legitimacy to a vote that the military insisted go ahead despite the past weeks' turmoil. A referendum in March had a turnout of 40 percent ? anything lower than that could be a sign that skepticism over the process is high.
The Brotherhood, which used to run its candidates as independents because of the official ban on the group, made its strongest showing in elections in 2005, when it won 20 percent of parliament's seats. Its leaders have predicted that in this vote it could win up to 40 or 50 percent.
> ___
AP correspondents Maggie Michael in Cairo, Hadeel al-Shalchi in Alexandria, Egypt, and Aya Batrawy in Assiut, Egypt contributed to this report.
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
Student arrested in Cairo says he feared for life
Derrik Sweeney, 19, of Jefferson City, Mo., smiles as he walks with his mother, Joy Sweeney, center, and sister Ashley Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Derrik 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, 19, of Jefferson City, Mo., smiles as he walks with his mother, Joy Sweeney, center, and sister Ashley Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Derrik 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, left, walks with, from left to right, his mother, Joy Sweeney, sister Ashley Sweeney and father Kevin Sweeney after arriving 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)
ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Three American college students detained for several days in Cairo as deadly protests swept Egypt have flown home to freedom, one describing an ordeal so terrifying he wasn't sure he would survive.
"I was not sure I was going to live," 19-year-old Georgetown University student Derrik Sweeney told The Associated Press by telephone moments after his relieved parents and other family members enveloped him in hugs as he got off a flight in St. Louis.
Sweeney, the last of the three to arrive late Saturday, recounted how tear gas clouded Cairo's streets and he heard armored vehicles and what sounded like shots being fired just before his arrest a week earlier. Suddenly, the drama involving thousands of demonstrators in the streets had become intensely personal.
Egyptian authorities later announced they had arrested Sweeney and two others ? Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind., and Gregory Porter, a 19-year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa. All three were studying at American University in Cairo, which is near Tahrir Square.
Protests have been going on in the square since Nov. 19 in anticipation of the landmark parliamentary elections due to start Monday. The crowd grew to more than 100,000 people Friday, and thousands were gathering Sunday for another massive demonstration calling for the nation's military leaders to hand power back to a civilian government.
Egyptian officials said they arrested the students on the roof of a university building and accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. But Sweeney said Saturday that he and the other Americans "never did anything to hurt anyone," weren't ever on the roof and never handled or threw explosives.
Sweeney said he and the others were told by a group the night of their arrest that they would be led "to a safe place" amid the chaos engulfing the nearby square. Next, he said, they found themselves being taken into custody, hit and forced to lay for about six hours in a near fetal position in the dark with their hands behind their backs.
The worst, he said, was when they were threatened with guns.
"They said if we moved at all, even an inch, they would shoot us. They were behind us with guns," Sweeney said in the brief interview.
That night in detention ? "probably the scariest night of my life ever" ? gave way to much better treatment in ensuing days, he said. Sweeney didn't elaborate on who he believed was holding him the opening night but he called the subsequent treatment humane.
"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 ... we were given food when we needed and it was OK."
He also said he was then able to speak with a U.S. consular official, his mother and a lawyer. He said he denied the accusations during what he called proper questioning by Egyptian authorities.
A court ordered the students' release Thursday, and they took separate flights out of Cairo on Saturday. Porter and Gates arrived in their home states earlier Saturday, greeted by family members in emotional airport reunions.
Neither Gates nor Porter recounted details of their experience.
"I'm not going to take this as a negative experience. It's still a great country," said Gates, shortly after getting off a flight in Indianapolis. His parents wrapped their arms around him.
Porter was met by his parents and other relatives at Philadelphia International Airport. He took no questions, saying he was thankful for the help he and the others 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," he said.
Joy Sweeney said waiting for her son had been grueling.
"He still hasn't processed what a big deal this is," she told the AP before his arrival in St. Louis, about 130 miles east of their home in Jefferson City, Mo.
She said she was trying not to dwell on the events and was just ecstatic that her son was coming home before the close of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
___
Matheson reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press photographer Michael Conroy contributed to this report from Indianapolis, and AP writers Bill Cormier in Atlanta and Andale Gross and Erin Gartner in Chicago also contributed.
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Asia stocks slump on Europe debt crisis impasse
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday as the results of a meeting among leaders of Europe's biggest economies disappointed investors and Portugal's credit rating was lowered to junk.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,161.87 while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent at 1,779.93. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.8 percent to 17,790.54 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.4 percent at 3,989.
Investment sentiment continued to wane after a meeting Thursday in Strasbourg, France of the leaders of the three biggest euro economies: Italian Premier Mario Monti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The three leaders pledged to push for changes to European Union treaties to bring the fiscal policies of countries using the euro common currency more in line with each other.
Many investors were hoping Merkel might drop her steadfast opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank or the creation of a eurobond that would pool the debts of all countries in the currency union. Some experts believe the ECB is the only institution capable of getting Europe past its debt crisis.
Piled onto the disappointment from the Strasbourg summit was a debt demotion for Portugal.
Fitch Ratings, citing Portugal's large fiscal imbalances, its high indebtedness across all sectors and an adverse macroeconomic outlook, reduced the country's credit rating to BB+. That means Portugal is considered non-investment grade by Fitch, making it even more difficult for the struggling country to return to the bond markets.
In the U.S., markets were closed for the Thanksgiving on Thursday. A crucial test comes on so-called Black Friday ? the day that kicks off the holiday shopping season.
How well retailers do during the biggest shopping season of the year will have consequences for the still-fragile U.S. economic recovery.
The spending of consumers, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, can impact stores' expansion plans and inventory decisions into the new year. That trickles through the rest of the economy, from suppliers to jobs.
The November-December period accounts for 25-40 percent of annual sales. About a quarter of jobs in the U.S. are directly or indirectly supported by the retail industry.
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
Japan deflation persists (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's core consumer prices fell for the first time in four months in the year to October after a cigarette tax hike a year ago dropped out from calculations revealing persistent deflation caused by chronically weak domestic demand.
In fact, November data for the Tokyo area showed deeper declines that exceeded analysts' forecasts and backed the view that the Bank of Japan will maintain ultra-easy monetary policy for the foreseeable future.
A narrower measure of prices that excludes both food and energy fell from a year ago in a sign that the world's third-largest economy continued to struggle with lackluster job market, weak consumer demand and excess capacity.
Core consumer prices fell 0.1 percent as forecast in a sign of weak aggregate demand as a strong yen and spillover from Europe's sovereign debt crisis dampen export demand.
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa on Friday expressed the central bank's growing alarm that the euro zone crisis may bring more pain for the Japanese economy.
"Europe's sovereign problems have affected Japan through the yen's strength and stock price falls. As emerging economies that have close trading relations with Europe slow down, Japan's exports to those economies may decline," Shirakawa said.
"The impact on the Japanese economy may grow bigger."
Japan's economy rebounded from a recession triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and grew 1.5 percent in the third quarter. But it is expected to slow sharply this quarter as the initial spurt driven by companies restoring supply chains and production facilities tails off.
With an expected boost from a $155 billion reconstruction budget passed this week still some months away, policymakers in Tokyo may feel pressure to help the economy again with yen-selling intervention and monetary policy easing.
"The price data underscores the sluggishness of domestic demand as the economy's recovery has taken a breather because of a delay in reconstruction efforts and a global economic slowdown," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi pledged to shield exporters from sharp currency moves while expressing frustration with Europe's inability to contain the debt rout that has been driving nervous investors away from the euro and into more stable markets such as Japanese government debt.
"It's really a shame because Europe's problems have started to intensify just when we were starting to see some bright signs on Japan's horizon," Azumi said.
FRESH WARNING
The yen hovered around 77.35 yen against the dollar on Friday, having firmed gradually since Japan sold nearly $100 billion worth of yen last month, knocking it down from record a record high of 75.31 per dollar.
More gains threatening Japan's recovery could spur further action from the finance ministry and the BOJ. For now, however, Shirakawa stuck with the bank's view that rebuilding efforts from the devastating March 11 and continued growth in Japan's main export markets in Asia should help sustain moderate economic recovery.
"The outlook on the BOJ's easing measures will depend largely on forex moves. Europe's debt problems are expected to be prolonged and the effects from Japan's intervention and the BOJ's easing steps may fade early next year," said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance.
"So there is a chance of additional BOJ easing in January or February."
While the core consumer price index, which excludes volatile prices of fresh food, inched down for the first time in four months, the so-called core-core index, which also excludes energy prices and is similar to the core U.S. index, fell 1.0 percent in the year to October.
Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, fell 0.5 percent in the year to November, compared with the median estimate for a 0.3 percent annual decline.
Some economists say consumer prices could fall further in coming months as a slowing global economy dents oil prices, while deflationary pressures persist.
(Additional reporting by Rie Ishiguro, Writing by Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Earlier deals, longer hours woo Friday shoppers (AP)
Big crowds on Black Friday can be both a blessing and a curse.
Early signs point to bigger crowds at the nation's malls and stores as retailers like Target and Macy's opened their doors at midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year and a few others opened on Thanksgiving Day. Shoppers were mostly peaceful across the country, but a few violent incidents broke out as millions of shoppers rushed into stores and tensions flared.
It started on Thanksgiving, when Los Angeles authorities say 20 people at a local Walmart store suffered minor injuries when a woman used pepper spray to gain a "competitive" shopping advantage shortly after the store opened.
Then, early Friday in Fayetteville, N.C., gunfire erupted at Cross Creek Mall and police say they're looking for the two suspects involved. Separately, police say two women have been injured and a man charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a central Florida man is behind bars after a fight broke out at a jewelry counter in Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla.
Later Friday morning, a Phoenix television station KSAZ reported that witnesses say police slammed a grandfather in a Walmart in Buckeye, Ariz., to the ground after he allegedly put a game in his waistband so that he could lift his grandson out of the crowd.
The incidents are the result of two converging trends on Black Friday. The crowds continue to get bigger as retailers offer more incentives and longer hours. At the same time, shoppers are competing for a small group of products, instead of years past when there were several hot items from which they could choose.
"The more the people, the more the occurrences," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group.
Indeed, a record number of shoppers are expected to head out to stores across the country this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
"I came here for the deals," said Sidiki Traore, 59, from Roosevelt Island, N.Y. who was among about 10,000 people who were standing outside of Macy's store in New York's Herald Square for its midnight opening.
The crowds are good news for retailers, many of which depend on the busy holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue. To draw in shoppers this year, they pulled out of their bag of tricks. In addition to several retailers opening much earlier than previous years, some began offering to match the prices of competitors and rolling out layaway programs.
Shoppers on Friday, though, say they mostly are being lured into stores by the deals, including discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items at The Gap and a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99 at Best Buy.
After showing up at Best Buy in New York on Wednesday at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Merced, 27, and his brother were the first in line when it opened. On their list was a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199, a PlayStation 3 console with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced says he likes camping out for Black Friday and he figures he saved 50 percent.
"I like the experience of it," says Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.
To be sure, not every store was filled to the brim with people looking for deals on Black Friday. With so many major stores opening at midnight, crowds shopped early, staying up late to snag the best deals. That meant there was an unusual lull during the typically bustling pre-dawn hours when stores used to open their doors.
At a Target on Chicago's north side, for instance, crowds were light four hours after the store opened. And door-buster deals, including the typically quick-to-sell out TVs and gaming systems, remained piled up in their boxes. Shoppers pushed carts through mostly empty aisles while thumbing through circulars and employees - some in Santa hats - roamed the store. There was no Christmas music ? or any music ? playing.
Rebecca Carter, a graduate assistant, began Black Friday shopping at 11 p.m. on Thursday night and left Target around 4 a.m. carrying a bag full of pillows. Carter, who prowls Black Friday deals every year, said crowds were noticeably lighter this year as she and a friend picked up a television set ($180 for a 32-inch TV) and a laptop for $198, along with toys and pajamas.
"It's quiet," she says. "There were all these televisions still there. It was shocking."
It was the first year that Melody Snyder, 34 of Vancouver, Wash. had ventured out for Black Friday. She had braced herself for crowds and mayhem when she got to Walmart at 6 a.m. but was pleasantly surprised when she pulled in the parking lot. She found a number of gifts for her three kids but said she did find the store was sold out of a few of the big sale items, including certain Barbies and other toys she'd considered.
"It was a little intimidating," she said. "Then I got here and thought `Where is everyone?'"
David Bassuk, managing director of retail at AlixPartners, a consultancy, says retailers are going to have to do a lot of discounting during the holiday shopping season to keep customers coming back.
"Consumers have made it clear that they're only going to spend so much money, and the people who are going to get them to open their wallet first are going to win," he says. "This is a consumer who is smart and well informed but also cash-strapped and cautious."
_____
Retail writers Mae Anderson and Anne D'Innocenzio are in New York. Sarah Skidmore in Vancouver, Wash., Christina Rexrode in Cary, N.C., Ashley Heher in Chicago and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report.
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FDIC: Bank earnings hit highest level in 4 years (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Bank earnings rose over the summer to their highest level in more than four years, while the number of troubled banks fell for the second straight quarter, federal regulators reported Tuesday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking industry earned $35.3 billion in the July-September quarter. That's up from $23.8 billion in the same period last year. More than 60 percent of banks reported improved earnings.
The better earnings and fewer troubled banks suggest that the industry is steadily improving from the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.
"Bank balance sheets are stronger in a number of ways, and the industry is generally profitable, but the recovery is by no means complete," said Martin Gruenberg, FDIC's acting chairman.
The FDIC also said there were 844 banks on its confidential "problem" list in the quarter, or roughly 11.5 percent of all federally insured banks. That was down from 865 the April-June period, which was first quarter in five years to show a decline.
Banks with assets exceeding $10 billion drove the bulk of the earnings growth. They made up 1.4 percent of all banks but accounted for about $29.8 billion of the industry's earnings in the third quarter.
Those are the largest banks, such as Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Most of these banks have recovered with help from federal bailout money and record-low borrowing rates.
FDIC officials say the bulk of the gains were because banks, especially credit card companies, set aside less money for potential losses. In the July-September period, banks put aside $18.6 billion. That's the lowest amount in four years.
But the industry continues to struggle with flat growth in loans. Banks' loan balances increased $21.8 billion in the third quarter. That was a modest gain. But it marked the second straight quarter in three years that balances have grown, the FDIC said.
"After three years of shrinking loan portfolios, any loan growth is positive news for the industry and the economy," Gruenberg said. Still, lending is well below healthy levels.
So far this year, 90 banks have failed. That's down from the 157 banks shuttered last year ? the most for one year since the height of the savings and loan crisis in 1992 ? and 140 in 2009.
Most of the banks that have struggled or failed have been small or regional institutions. They depend heavily on loans for commercial property and development ? sectors that have suffered huge losses. As companies shut down during the recession, they vacated shopping malls and office buildings financed by those loans.
Still, large banks are less profitable than they were before the 2008 financial crisis. As a result, many are shrinking their staffs.
Some credit rating agencies have been warning that the European debt crisis could hit the biggest U.S. banks. Stocks of financial companies have been especially pummeled in the stock market's decline in recent months.
Last year's bank failures cost the FDIC's deposit insurance fund an estimated $23 billion. But in the July-September quarter, fewer failures allowed the insurance fund to strengthen. The fund turned positive in the second quarter and had a $7.8 billion balance as of Sept. 30.
The FDIC is backed by the government, and its deposits are guaranteed up to $250,000 per account. Apart from its deposit insurance fund, the agency also has tens of billions in loss reserves.
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Talks about Moldovan separatist region to resume (AP)
CHISINAU, Moldova ? Moldova's prime minister says negotiations on the separatist region of Trans-Dniester will resume next week in Lithuania, five years after they stalled.
Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat's office said he and separatist leader Igor Smirnov decided late Monday to restart talks after a meeting in the separatist town of Bender.
Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the U.S. will also take part in the Nov. 30 talks to be held in Vilnius.
Monday's meeting was mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Discussions over the status of Trans-Dniester were suspended in 2006.
Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova in 1990 and fought a war with Moldovan forces in 1992 that left 1,500 people dead.
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Australian police investigate local News Corp arm: report (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Australian police are investigating claims News Ltd, News Corp's Australian arm, tried to influence a politician to vote a certain way on media laws, The Age newspaper said on Wednesday.
Former National party senator Bill O'Chee issued a nine-page statement to police last month after he was approached by a federal police agent, the newspaper said.
"After receiving a referral, the AFP (Australian Federal Police) commenced an investigation on Nov 4 in relation to these allegations," a police spokeswoman said in an email to Reuters on Wednesday.
"As this matter is ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment any further," the spokeswoman said.
News Ltd declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday.
O'Chee said he was told by a News Ltd executive he would be "taken care of" if he opposed proposed legislation regarding the creation of digital television in Australia.
Some media companies, including News Ltd, were opposed to the digital conversion legislation as incumbent broadcasters received six new TV channels each for free, and it protected existing operators by banning new TV stations for 10 years.
Earlier this month, Rupert Murdoch took up the role of chairman of New Ltd as the publisher battles a hostile government. Investors in News Corp have been pressing for Murdoch and his son James to step back from the business after the phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom.
(Reporting by Miranda Maxwell; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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Just Show Me: 3 great holiday shopping apps for the iPhone (Yahoo! News)
Welcome to?Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the?gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you how to use three great holiday shopping apps for your iPhone.
These apps are perfect for when you're out and about and want to be sure that you're getting the best deal possible. The apps we cover in this episode include:
- ShopSavvy
- Amazon's iPhone app
- FastMall
Looking for more holiday shopping tips? Check out our guide to 2011's Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
For more episodes of Just Show Me, subscribe to Tecca TV's YouTube channel and check out all our Just Show Me episodes. If you have any topics you'd like to see us cover, just drop us a line in the comments.
This article originally appeared on Tecca
More from Tecca:
- The ultimate beginner's guide to the iPhone
- Unboxing Apple's new iPhone 4S
- Is the $99 iPhone 4 a good deal?
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Egypt unrest may hasten currency crisis (Reuters)
DUBAI (Reuters) ? Violent unrest in Egypt threatens to accelerate the country's slide toward a currency crisis, forcing a sharp depreciation of the Egyptian pound in coming months and conceivably prompting Cairo to impose capital controls.
Even before this month's clashes between government forces and protestors in Cairo, which have killed at least 33 people since Saturday, Egypt was heading toward monetary turmoil as the central bank battled to keep the pound stable by running down its foreign exchange reserves.
The recent violence, which calls into question whether Egypt can smoothly hold parliamentary elections beginning next week, is likely to increase pressure on the reserves and may bring a full-blown crisis forward to the next several months from the late-2012 tipping point previously predicted by some analysts.
"Even in advance of recent events we were very concerned about the balance of payments and the burn-through in reserves," said Farouk Soussa, Middle East chief economist at Citigroup.
"The violence and political noise is going to erode whatever confidence was left in the Egyptian economy, and may result in the current atmosphere in an acceleration of capital outflows."
RESERVES
Egypt's net foreign reserves have tumbled from around $36 billion at the start of the year to $22.1 billion in October, as the violence and political uncertainty surrounding the ouster as president of Hosni Mubarak caused an exodus of foreign investors and tourists. Reserves sank $1.93 billion last month, the biggest drop since April, central bank data show.
By supplying foreign currency to the market, the central bank has so far managed to preserve the pound's buying power and curb pressure for inflation in the face of this capital flight. It has kept the pound remarkably stable in a range of roughly 5.92-5.99 against the dollar since Mubarak's overthrow.
But pressure on the pound is clearly growing as the market speculates about when the central bank may run out of money to maintain its defense; the currency edged down last week to its lowest level in nearly seven years.
Raza Agha, senior Middle East and North Africa economist at RBS, estimates the reserves are large enough to pay for about 4-1/2 months' worth of Egypt's imports. But liquid reserves -- currencies, deposits and securities that can be mobilized quickly to defend the pound -- are about $16.1 billion or 3.2 months of imports, he calculates.
"Egyptian reserves are still not at the panic-inducing levels, but they are extremely vulnerable to capital flight," Agha wrote in a report last week.
Some traders think the market could panic, with expectations for currency depreciation causing bigger fund outflows that overwhelm the central bank, if liquid reserves fall near two months' import cover.
If the unrest causes the decline in reserves to accelerate from October's rate, as the violence hurts tourism revenues further and prompts foreign investors to sell their remaining holdings of Egyptian Treasury bills, crunch time could be reached in three months or so.
The forward market, in which banks hedge against future currency moves, clearly fears this point may be reached next year. Prices there imply an exchange rate of 6.15 in three months' time and 6.62 in a year.
The stock market also reflects the darkening mood. The main index, which is down 46 percent this year, rebounded 17 percent in October but in the last two weeks has given up almost all those gains.
AID
International aid for Egypt could buy it valuable time and, conceivably, keep it afloat while the elections proceed and political stability returns.
Egypt turned down the offer of a $3.2 billion financing facility from the International Monetary Fund this summer, partly, officials indicated privately, because of national pride. The then finance minister said Egypt's ruling military did not want to build up debts.
The inexorable decline of the reserves has forced a rethink, and Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said this week that Egypt would formally ask the IMF to start negotiations on a package similar to the one it previously rejected. The IMF has signaled it will not put onerous conditions on the loans.
The wealthy governments of the Gulf and the international community in general have strong geopolitical reasons to try to keep Egypt stable; Cairo has received in-principle offers of aid totaling well over $10 billion from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other sources.
But actual aid flows have been slow to arrive partly, analysts speculate, because of political tensions between governments in Egypt and the Gulf. Cairo has so far received $1 billion of budget support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the UAE said last month it planned to provide $3 billion but was still discussing the mechanism to deliver it.
Meanwhile, the euro zone debt crisis and a global economic slowdown may reduce the ability of the IMF and Western countries to help Cairo. Bloodshed in Egypt, or any resulting delay in its election timetable, could make it politically difficult for the West to aid the Egyptian government.
Angus Blair, head of research at Middle Eastern investment bank Beltone Financial in Cairo, said there were some positive factors for Egypt: Suez Canal revenues, tourism numbers and remittances from its workers abroad had held up fairly well in the circumstances.
But the country is threatened on several fronts, including high food price inflation, its budget deficit and its trade and current account deficits, he said.
"It's quite difficult for Egypt to have all of these issues addressed at the same time because it's in a global environment that's less conducive to help -- not because the world doesn't want to help Egypt, but because there are so many other global issues to deal with at the moment," Blair said.
Any sharp depreciation of the Egyptian pound could fuel inflation -- one of the factors which sparked the unrest that toppled Mubarak. Soussa said the central bank therefore appeared determined to defend the currency at least through January, when elections for the lower house of parliament are due to end.
If pressure on the pound continues to increase, authorities may impose capital controls, he said, though officials have denied any intention to do so. If that does not work, Egypt may be forced to let the pound fall; Citigroup thinks the pound may depreciate between 20 and 25 percent in 2012.
(With additional reporting by Nadia Saleem in Dubai; editing by Anna Willard)
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Egypt stock market drops on political unrest (AP)
CAIRO ? Egypt's benchmark stock index extended its decline for a second consecutive day and airport officials reported a sharp drop Monday in international passenger arrivals as deadly clashes in the capital cast fresh doubts about the country's political stability days before pivotal parliamentary elections.
The Egyptian Exchange's EGX30 index closed 3.99 percent weaker, at 3,862 points, according to the exchange's Web site. The drop surpassed the previous day's 2.4 percent decline sparked by clashes between security forces and protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, and pushed the index's year-to-date losses to almost 46 percent.
The protesters are demanding that the ruling military council announce a date for transition to a civilian government. At least 24 people have been killed in the clashes since Saturday across Egypt, the overwhelming majority in Cairo, according to a morgue official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian pound flirted near the 6 pounds to the U.S. dollar mark, reaching levels largely unseen since the height of the Jan. 25 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. The pound, which had hit about 5.99 pounds to the dollar, pulled back to around 5.973 pounds to the dollar later in the day. Also, Egypt's 5-year credit default swaps, the cost of insuring the country's debt, stood at 525 basis points compared to 466 basis points on Nov. 18, according to data from financial information provider Markit.
The depreciation pressures, coupled with the soaring debt costs, underscored the country's economic crunch which has been exacerbated by a nearly 40 percent erosion in net international reserves since December.
"Egypt has a massive external financing risk over the next year, and these political events are making matters worse," said Said Hirsh, Mideast economist with Capital Economics in London. "Any kind of political uncertainty is making the situation worse."
The uprising that ousted Mubarak in mid-February sparked a tide of optimism in the country, with millions expecting that nearly three-decades of authoritarian rule best defined by a system of crony capitalism and outright nepotism would be replaced by a transparent, democratic system that offered them at least the opportunity to succeed.
But those expectations have proven far greater than the reality on the ground as mass protests battered the economy, with key foreign revenue sources tourism and foreign investment taking a beating since the start of the year.
Net international reserves were down to $22 billion by the end of October, from $36 billion by the end of last year, according to Central Bank of Egypt figures. At least some of that has gone to supporting the Egyptian currency.
The unrest comes days before parliamentary elections ? the first since Mubarak's ouster. The vote is seen as a milestone in Egypt's transition to a democratic system, but the violence has raised questions about whether the various parties will pull out.
Reflecting the impact of the unrest, airport officials in Cairo said at least two airlines canceled flights from Italy and Syria on Monday because of the unrest in the capital and that the number of arrivals from European nations plunged between 30 to 50 percent. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
The cancellations and the drop in arrivals was reminiscent of the mass departures of foreigners from Egypt in the first days of the uprising ? an exodus that heralded the start of the decline of the country's vital tourism sector for the year.
The IMF is projecting Egypt's economic growth to come in at an anemic 1.2 percent this year compared to about 5 percent in 2010.
With key revenue sources hammered the interim government has had to rely on foreign aid, as well as selling treasury bills and bonds to raise money. But yields on two billion, 266-day, treasury bills auctioned on Sunday surged to 14.7 percent ? significantly higher than the 1.5 percent interest rate the IMF had requested on a roughly $3 billion loan it offered the government over the summer.
Egyptian officials turned down that offer, but are now re-evaluating it given the climbing yields they are forced to pay to attract interest in their securities.
"The problem is that this is an interim government, and it's questionable how much power it has with the military council making the decision," said Hirsh. "There's basically no clear economic policy direction on the part of the interim government."
The decision to turn down the IMF loan and turn to T-bills to raise money at higher yields reflects "this sort of contradiction in policy," he said. "It's doesn't make any sense."
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Son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen a Rhodes scholar (AP)
NEW YORK ? The son of actress and activist Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen has been chosen as a Rhodes Scholar.
Ronan Farrow is among 32 American students who will be awarded scholarships to study at Oxford University. It's not the first academic distinction for Farrow, who is a special adviser to the Secretary of State for global youth issues.
He had started college as a child, graduating from Bard College in 2004 when he was 15. He started Yale Law School when he was 17 and graduated in 2009.
He's also worked as special adviser for humanitarian and NGO affairs in the State Department's Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Rhodes scholarships provide all expenses for study at the prestigious university in England.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Obama asserts growing US stake in Asia (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's close attention to the Asia-Pacific region signaled both a turn toward a part of the world experiencing solid growth and one away from Europe's dark economic woes, at least temporarily.
The president's nine-day trip to Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia was marked by back-to-back summits and high-profile pronouncements, including decisions to station U.S. Marines in northern Australia, advocate a new free-trade area that leaves China out and call on Beijing not to buck the current world order.
He also made an overture to isolated, repressive Myanmar, also known as Burma, dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton there next month and speaking by phone with peace activist and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
With Europe's growth stalled, and the continent teetering on the edge of another recession, Obama redirected his focus across the Pacific to an area largely out of recession and steadily growing ? and which now accounts for roughly 50 percent of the world's economic output.
America's standing in Asia-Pacific has declined in the past decade as China's has increased. China now is the top trading partner for many countries across the region.
Obama portrayed his trip and his new, muscular approach toward China as an effort to help open new Asian markets that could lead to more jobs in the U.S. as he strives to help get the nation's economy back on track, a big order ahead of next year's presidential election.
He was able to perform as an active player in the summits in Hawaii and Bali, Indonesia, and in his visit to Australia ? after finding himself largely on the sidelines in efforts to resolve the euro zone's deepening debt crisis.
Obama's goal "is clearly a rebalancing on the economic side and Europe's current economic situation starkly underlines that," said Ernest Bower, director of Southeast Asia programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Europe is flat on its back, and Asia is growing like a snowball rolling down a hill."
Obama's return to the land of gridlock was abrupt. As Obama signed into law rare bipartisan legislation to give companies tax breaks for hiring unemployed military veterans, a special 12-member congressional panel was poised on Monday to declare complete failure in its attempt to bring federal deficits down $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
That failure caused stock markets in the U.S. and Europe to tumble, with the Dow industrials plunging more than 300 points. Obama urged congressional negotiators not to give up.
He also called the new Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, who took power while Obama was out of the country. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama thanked Monti "for taking on such a significant responsibility at a critical time."
Also, Carney called the Asia-Pacific trip one of "substantial accomplishments" that he said would make clear the United States "will be all in when it comes to Asia."
China was the first major world economy to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. And while it is has struggled to keep inflation at bay, it recently roared past Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. It's on track to overtake the U.S. and become No. 1 within the next few decades.
The financial-system meltdown that hobbled the U.S. and its European allies bypassed Australia and many of its neighbors. And while Japan is still struggling to recover, many of the region's other economies are exhibiting healthy growth.
Obama pledged greater involvement in a wide array of regional security and economic concerns as the U.S. ratchets down its military presence in the Middle East with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq; and as it seeks to extricate itself from Afghanistan.
"The Asian economies are the fastest growing economies on the planet. It's where the action is, where U.S. businesses are increasingly looking for growth," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "We've got to be looking toward Asia. Europe is in trouble."
Rapid growth of Asian economies could help offset weaknesses in Europe. Still, China and several other Asian exporting countries do substantial business selling their goods in European countries.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that the European crisis is still "the central challenge to global growth" and urged Asia-Pacific leaders to do more to help keep the European contagion from spreading, including boosting demand in their own countries.
Still, economists generally say that so long as any new recession in Europe is relatively mild, it seems unlikely that it would drag down other economies.
"Asia is in ascendency while Europe is fading in the power lineup of the world," said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics. He said the new U.S. focus on the region "is long overdue."
Obama's trip follows congressional approval of a free-trade pact with South Korea, initially negotiated by the Bush administration. The president said the pact would help open the big South Korean market to U.S. goods and services and help create badly needed jobs in the United States.
With unemployment hovering at a stubbornly high 9 percent, and congressional negotiators straining to meet a November 23 deadline for delivering a deficit-cutting plan, Obama did take some heat from Republicans for leaving the country instead of focusing on domestic priorities, even as he promoted job-creation as a key part of his mission .
And a few Democrats voiced skepticism about some aspects of the trip.
"I guess the strategic purpose, we're told, is we have to contain China. I think we overdo that," said Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
"We have a legitimate strategic interest in deterring North Korea and in giving Taiwan some assurance, but I don't think we have to keep open the sea lanes. I don't think we have to mediate every dispute ... in the South China Sea," Frank told a foreign-policy forum. "I do not think that China is prepared to commit economic suicide by shutting down the sea lanes."
Many lawmakers blame China for America's economic woes. It is one of the few issues on which many Democrats and Republicans agree.
By a wide bipartisan margin, the Senate last month passed a bill to punish China for deliberately undervaluing its currency, a practice that makes Chinese products cheaper in the United States ? at a time when the U.S. manufacturing sector is struggling and jobs are scarce.
Lawmakers have also reached across the aisle to condemn Beijing for human rights abuses, intellectual property theft and the counterfeiting of components that end up in U.S. military hardware.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has thus far declined to take up the Senate China currency, agreeing with business interests that it could hurt, not help, the U.S. economy by triggering a trade war.
China has also become a hot political issue on the GOP presidential campaign trail. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said that, if elected, he would seek to sanction China as a currency manipulator on Day One of his presidency. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota suggests, without offering evidence, that the U.S. is helping to subsidize China's People's Liberation Army with the interest payments it makes to China on the debt.
Only former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman ? who recently was U.S. ambassador to China ? warns against actions against China that could result in trade retaliation. He is a former U.S. ambassador to China.
As to borrowing from China to help cover U.S. budget deficits, China buys Treasury bonds the same way as other countries, mutual and pension funds and individual investors do ? on the open market.
Last year, the federal government paid about $206 billion in interest for the portion of the national debt held by the public. China holds about 11 percent of that debt, making it the largest foreign creditor.
"I do think that in this populist age, a little China-bashing never hurts politically," said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.
___
Follow Tom Raum at http://twitter.com/tomraum
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Mila Kunis keeps promise to be Marine's date (AP)
GREENVILLE, N.C. ? Film star Mila Kunis has made good on her promise to a Marine who had been serving in Afghanistan.
Kunis and Marine Sgt. Scott Moore attended the annual Marine Corps Ball on Friday in Greenville, N.C. The annual event marks the founding of the Marines in 1775.
Back in July, the data systems technician asked Kunis to be his date for the ball in a YouTube video. He was deployed to Afghanistan at the time.
Kunis accepted his invitation soon after the video was posted.
The actress' appearance comes just days after "Friends With Benefits" co-star Justin Timberlake attended a Marine Corps Ball with Cpl. Kelsey De Santis in Richmond, Va.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Newt and Mitt 1994 - Le?gal In?sur?rec?tion
I have started watching videos from the earlier days of Newt and Romney.? I wasn?t politically conscious in 1994, so much of this is new to me.
I find the contrasts interesting, including this short clip of Romney running from ?the?time of Reagan-Bush,? and the somewhat longer clips below?regarding the Contract for America.
If the choice comes down to Newt or Romney (as both I and Newt?predict), I think this history will come into play, because the electorate will have to decide which candidate?they trust when the going gets tough.
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Source: http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/11/newt-and-mitt-1994/
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Nicki Minaj, Selena Gomez Dazzle On AMA Red Carpet
Our style experts say Taylor Swift played it too safe and dish on the bold fashion statements from Sunday's show.
By Christina Garibaldi
Nicki Minaj at the 2011 AMAs
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ FilmMagic
The American Music Awards was all about the ladies on Sunday night, but it wasn't just the electrifying performances that got people talking, it was the fashion as well. From metallic gowns to pink hair, there was a little bit of everything to brighten up the red carpet.
Katy Perry hit the stage to perform her new single "The One That Got Away," and also scored a special AMA for being the first woman to earn five #1 singles off one album. But before all of that, Perry hit the red carpet in a vibrant, Vivienne Westwood Couture gown that accented her pink hair.
"I didn't mind her red carpet look," Celebuzz Senior Producer Jackie Willis told MTV News about Perry. "I didn't think it was her best, I didn't think it was her worst; it was fine."
Also looking pretty in pink, Nicki Minaj strutted down the red carpet in a somewhat understated (for her) Oscar de la Renta silk gown with a black lace bodice. But viewers couldn't seem to take their eyes off Minaj when she kicked off the show in a futuristic get-up, complete with rear-end speakers. Nicki was joined by David Guetta for her songs "Turn Me On" and "Super Bass."
"I'm always really into Nicki's style," Willis said. "It's weird and outrageous, I liked it."
Arguably young Hollywood's cutest couple, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber brought movie star flare to the AMAs as they walked hand-in-hand down the carpet. Gomez stunned in a Giorgio Armani gown with a plunging neckline and open back, looking both sophisticated and glamorous.
"I loved it, I love them," Willis said. "I thought they looked very 'Boardwalk Empire.' Very formal, probably one of the more formal couples on the red carpet. I think that Selena has a very good handle on her style. I love the 'short in the front, long in the back' that she always tends to wear."
Gomez's pal Taylor Swift, who won three AMAs, including the top prize of the night for Artist of the Year, sparkled in a gold Reem Acra gown with a side-swept ponytail, which seems to be a favorite look overall for the country star.
"Taylor Swift always looks stunning because she's always wearing the same style," Willis laughed. "I was thinking maybe that's her lucky color because she always wins an award in a gold gown."
Who was your pick for best-dressed at the AMAs? Let us know in the comments!
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674763/nicki-minaj-selena-gomez-amas-fashion.jhtml
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