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Mt. Lebanon swim coach will return after suspension
Mt. Lebanon High School's swim coach will return to his position after charges of child endangerment that had forced his suspension were recently dropped, a school district spokeswoman said.
Cissy Bowman of the Mt. Lebanon school district, said David Schraven had been suspended during the court's investigation but will be reinstated starting Monday.
Principal Brian McFeeley Friday sent a letter to parents of all students at the high school, alerting them of the decision.
Police said Mr. Schraven, 44, left his 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son alone in the car while he shopped at a Giant Eagle supermarket for more than 20 minutes on Aug. 25.
Two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment and a summary count of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle were dropped Oct. 20 after Mr. Schraven gave the court proof that he completed parenting courses prior to the hearing.
First published on October 29, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11302/1186154-100.stm?cmpid=news.xml
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LOS ANGELES ? Americans' spending on home videos has finally emerged from the recession ? helped by more purchases of higher-priced Blu-ray discs and greater outlays on cut-rate rentals from Netflix and Redbox.
For the three months through September, home movie spending rose nearly 5 percent from a year earlier to $3.9 billion, the first increase since early 2008, according to industry organization, The Digital Entertainment Group.
Buying digital copies of movies and ordering them from set-top box video-on-demand services also rose.
People bought fewer DVDs and made fewer trips to brick-and-mortar video rental stores, cutting into the gains.
For the year overall spending is down about 2 percent at $12.3 billion.
The industry is struggling to cope with a weak economic recovery and the gradual wane of the DVD era. The digital discs, once revolutionary for their clarity and durability, were shown the exit once Blu-ray became the industry's high-definition standard in 2008. Compared to a year ago, DVD sales dropped by 15 percent, or about $230 million, to $1.32 billion.
Blu-ray disc sales rose by about $156 million, to $423 million. That didn't make up for the DVD drop, even with the help of the popular re-release of the six "Star Wars" movies on Blu-ray, which racked up $38 million in North America in its first week of sales in late September.
There's still room for Blu-ray to grow. Although Blu-ray player households rose by 52 percent to 33.5 million, that's still only about a third of the TV-owning homes in the U.S.
Brick-and-mortar store rentals fell by $142 million to $353 million, but they were more than replaced by a $152 million gain in new delivery methods, such as online streaming, video-on-demand, mail-order subscriptions and cheap rentals from kiosks. Revenue from those rental methods rose to $1.70 billion. Kiosk rentals made up more than half of those gains.
Netflix Inc.'s price hike to customers on Sept. 1 may have bolstered the numbers, and Redbox said it was raising its nightly DVD rental fee to $1.20 from $1, which will likely add to the current quarter's totals.
The smallest segment remains digital purchases of movies, which rose by about $15 million to $136 million. Movie studios have been concerned that people aren't purchasing digital movies because they are worried the files won't be easily transferable to various devices, a concern it hopes to ease with its UltraViolet view-anywhere standard, which Warner Bros. launched this month.
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ASUNCION (Reuters) ? Portugal asked Mexico on Saturday to tell fellow G20 members next week that the United States should offer "financial help" to resolve the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, describing it as a "systemic and global" problem, a Portuguese government source said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon to convey the message during the G20 meeting in Cannes next week, the source told reporters after the two leaders met at the Ibero-American summit in Paraguay.
"The crisis isn't in the euro zone. It is a systemic and global crisis and we hope that other big G20 countries intervene," the source told reporters in the capital Asuncion, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source added that Washington should help resolve the crisis "by boosting trade and also with financial help."
No one from Calderon's delegation in Asuncion could immediately be reached for comment.
Financial markets rallied strongly this week after European leaders hammered out a deal to recapitalize their banks, boost the firepower of a euro zone rescue fund, and impose hefty losses on holders of Greek debt.
However, economic analysts quickly warned that details of the rescue could still take weeks or even months to work out.
Portugal is suffering a deepening recession as it implements painful austerity measures under a 78-billion-euro ($110.3-billion) EU/IMF bailout.
(Reporting by Guido Nejamkis; Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by Paul Simao)
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan ? A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in the southern city of Kandahar early Monday, killing four people and severely damaging a U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said.
Gunmen then rushed into the neighborhood and seized control of at least one building, sparking a battle with Afghan and NATO forces, Kandahar police chief Gen. Abdul Razzaq said. The firefight lasted more than two hours before the two insurgents were shot dead, according to a statement from the provincial governor's office.
The combined bombing and assault was the second major attack in three days targeting foreigners or NATO troops in the country, and spotlighted the insurgents' ability to continue to carry out major attacks despite a 10-year NATO campaign against them. The U.S.-led coalition is gradually handing over security responsibilities to its Afghan counterparts and plans to withdrawing its combat forces by the end of 2014.
Immediately after the 6:15 a.m. bomb attack, two insurgents rushed into the area and seized control of an animal clinic near the office of the International Relief and Development organization, said provincial police spokesman Ghorzang, who like many Afghans goes by one name.
The blast caused extensive damage to the offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR. Associated Press video footage showed large chunks of the building's outer walls blown out, as well as the windows. The street around the building was strewn with rubble.
The insurgents then managed to enter the IRD's office through the UNHCR building, Ghorzang said.
The Taliban, for whom Kandahar is a traditional stronghold, claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Qari Yousef saying the insurgents were targeting what he claimed was a guest house affiliated with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
While UNAMA does not operate a guest house in the area, the clinic and IRD offices entered by the attackers are, however, near guest houses affiliated with both the IRD and the UNHCR. The are is also home to several other international NGO offices and guest houses.
Earlier reports said three security guards in the area were killed, but Mohammad Faisal, an official with the Kandahar provincial media office, said three civilians and one policeman were killed. Three civilians and a Nepalese guard were also wounded, said Faisal.
UNAMA said it was aware of the situation, but that "all our staff, both Afghan and non-Afghan ... have been accounted for," said agency spokesman Dan McNorton.
The attack comes two days after the Taliban launched a brazen midday suicide bombing in Kabul, striking a NATO convoy on Saturday and killing 17 people ? five NATO service members, including one Canadian soldier; eight civilian contractors, including two from Britain; and four Afghans, including a policeman.
Saturday's attack in Kabul underscored the urgency behind the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to expand a security bubble around the city.
With most of the attacks in Kabul blamed on the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, that assault reinforced U.S. and Afghan demands that Islamabad do more to curb militant activity and sanctuaries on its territory. Last month, then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said the al-Qaida and Taliban-linked Haqqani network "acts as a veritable arm" of Pakistan's intelligence agency ? an accusation that Pakistan has denied.
While there is no specific information linking Saturday's convoy attack to the Haqqani, investigators say they soon will have evidence the bombing was "Haqqani-related," a western diplomat said Sunday.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said it was "very possible" the Kabul attack was the work of Haqqani fighters.
At least 11 of about 15 major attacks in the capital this year can be blamed on the Haqqanis, according to a senior official with the coalition who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss undisclosed investigative reports on the incidents.
The Haqqanis were the focus of two military operations this month that involved tens of thousands of Afghan and NATO troops.
The operations were conducted over nine days in several provinces along the border with Pakistan, More than 200 insurgents were killed or captured. At least 20 of them had ties to the Haqqani group, including 10 identified as leaders of the network.
Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that the operations against the Haqqanis were conducted in preparation for next year's plan to step up operations to keep insurgents from infiltrating across the Pakistani border and into the capital, especially from the south.
The United States has stepped up criticism of Pakistan and its counterterrorism cooperation, but at the same time has worked to cajole the increasingly angry and resistant Pakistanis into doing more to squeeze militants on its side of the border.
During her visit to the region last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered an unusually blunt warning to the Pakistanis, saying they "must be part of the solution" to the Afghan conflict.
Clinton said the Obama administration expects the Pakistani government, military and intelligence services to "take the lead" in not only fighting insurgents based in Pakistan but also in encouraging Afghan militants to reconcile with Afghan society.
___
Associated Press writers Tarek El-Tablawy, Deb Riechmann and Amir Shah contributed.
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STILLWATER, Okla. ? When it mattered the most, No. 3 Oklahoma State made every yard seem like the longest yard for Robert Griffin III and Baylor.
Joseph Randle set career-highs by running for 152 yards and four touchdowns, Justin Blackmon matched his career best with 13 catches for 172 yards and two scores and the Cowboys carried a shutout into the fourth quarter of a 59-24 win over the Bears on Saturday.
Brodrick Brown recovered two fumbles, and Daytawion Lowe and Justin Gilbert had interceptions as the Cowboys (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) forced five turnovers and stopped the Bears twice on fourth-and-1.
"I think at that point, you just have to dig deep and just find something inside of you to not let them in the end zone," safety Markelle Martin said. "Let's not make it easy on them."
Far from it.
The Cowboys ran out to a 35-0 halftime advantage that was hardly indicative of how competitive the game was, but Baylor came up with absolutely nothing out of a series of promising drives.
The Bears (4-3, 1-3) were stuffed on fourth-and-1 twice, including on the goal line on their opening drive, and Gilbert picked off one of Griffin's passes in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 5. Aaron Jones also continued his struggles, missing a 48-yard field goal.
The Bears got inside the Oklahoma State 35-yard line on each of their first five drives and then found a way to give the ball back without getting any points.
"Sickening comes to mind because you know how important it is to punch it in in that situation," coach Art Briles said. "It's not like you are going to pitch a shutout game against them but you certainly better match scores when you have opportunities and we didn't."
That's nothing new for the Cowboys.
OSU came into the game ranked 103rd in the nation in yards allowed ? easily the worst of the eight remaining undefeated teams ? but has consistently found ways to get critical stops when needed. The Pokes lead the nation in turnover margin and added to their Bowl Subdivision lead in interceptions by picking off their 16th and 17th of the season.
Glasco Martin also fumbled inside the 1-yard line in the third quarter, setting up Oklahoma State's second 99-yard touchdown drive of the game.
"They didn't want to give anything up," OSU coach Mike Gundy said. "We talk to them all the time about fighting right 'til the end."
The Cowboys started a season with eight straight wins for only the second time in school history. The other time was in 1945, when they finished the season 9-0, won the Sugar Bowl and were ranked fifth in the final poll.
"It's a sweet feat," said quarterback Brandon Weeden, who had 274 yards passing and three touchdowns without any interceptions.
"But last year we were talking about winning 11 games and how exciting that was, and we're not there yet. We've still got a lot left on our plate."
Griffin threw for 425 yards to end up 5 shy of his career best set last week. In a matchup of two of the nation's top three offenses, the Bears' second-ranked attack outgained Oklahoma State's third-ranked unit 622-601 but the scoreboard was lopsided the opposite way.
Baylor didn't get into the end zone until the first play of the fourth quarter, when Terrance Ganaway's 18-yard scamper made it 49-10.
"The score is crazy," Ganaway said. "It looks lopsided but ... if we don't have any turnovers and finish in the red zone, it's a whole new ballgame. That's what we have to work on. We have to make sure we're taking care of the ball and playing smart."
To start the game, Griffin drove the Bears 68 yards with relative ease to set up first-and-goal at the 2. Three running plays later, they had only made it to the 1 and Briles decided to give it to Ganaway once more.
"For us, it's just pride right there. There's no space to worry about. It's just you versus that guy in front of you," Martin said.
"So for us, it's that battle that you want every day. You don't have to worry about nothing else, just you and the guy in front of you."
The Cowboys, who've been hearing the increasing noise that they can't win a BCS title with a 100th-ranked defense, won that battle over and over again.
"We wanted to go out and prove that we are a good defense," Martin said. "I think that fire was lit and we all shined and had fun."
Randle, who also scored four total touchdowns last week, ran for TDs from 2, 62 and 7 yards as the Cowboys built up a 35-0 halftime lead. He then followed Brown's 47-yard fumble return by scoring from 7 yards out early in the third quarter.
Blackmon, an All-American last season, returned after missing the second half of last week's game with a head injury to catch TD passes from 2 and 8 yards. Weeden's other scoring pass was an 18-yarder to fullback Kye Staley, who had given up the game entirely after a serious knee injury and got into the end zone for the first time in his comeback.
Terrance Williams caught eight passes for a career-high 154 yards, including a 72-yard fourth-quarter touchdown, and Kendall Wright had 117 yards on 11 receptions as Baylor lost in Stillwater for the 10th straight time and fell to 1-15 against OSU in Big 12 play.
Griffin also scored on a 1-yard run ? finally ending the Bears' short-yardage struggles on their 14th snap inside the 5 and long after it mattered.
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By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com contributor
The Transportation Security Administration employee?disciplined for?allegedly leaving a personal note on an inspection card in a? traveler's suitcase will be fired, the agency said on its blog.
"TSA has completed its investigation of this matter, and has initiated action to remove the individual from federal service," the agency said.
The disciplinary action comes after New York-based blogger and lawyer Jill Filipovic, who was traveling?with a small vibrator?in her checked luggage, discovered that someone had scrawled ?Get your freak on girl,? across the TSA paperwork left in her bag.
Under the title ?Your tax dollars at work,? Filipovic posted the note on the Feministe?blog on Oct. 24 and added her own comment, ?Total violation of privacy, wildly inappropriate and clearly not ok, but I also just died laughing in my hotel room.?
She also Tweeted a photo of the note, adding: ?Just unpacked my suitcase and found this note from TSA. Guess they discovered a 'personal item' in my bag. Wow.?
The TSA announced earlier this week that agency ?has zero tolerance for this type of behavior" and that officials had ?reached out to the passenger to personally apologize for this unfortunate incident."
Filipovic, who was in Dublin, e-mailed msnbc.com a statement on Thursday: ?The note was inappropriate, the agent in question acted unprofessionally when s/he put in my bag, there should be consequences and I'm glad the TSA takes these things seriously. But I get no satisfaction in hearing that someone may be in danger of losing their job over this. I would much prefer a look at why 'security' has been used to justify so many intrusions on our civil liberties, rather than fire a person who made a mistake.?
More on Overhead Bin
Find more by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at The Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.?
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LONDON ? WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will learn next week of the verdict in his fight against his extradition to Sweden to answer allegations of sexual misconduct, the organization said Thursday.
WikiLeaks staffer Joseph Farrell said that Britain's High Court had informed Assange it will deliver judgment on his appeal on Nov. 2,
"The court told us. We have no further details," Farrell said in a text message.
In February, a judge ruled that Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual molestation against two women. Lawyers for Assange filed an appeal at the High Court, and insist the activist would not receive a fair trial.
Britain's Royal Courts of Justice could not immediately be reached to confirm details of next week's hearing.
Allegations against Assange date back to a visit to Sweden in August 2010, shortly after the activist's organization had released secret U.S. files on the war in Afghanistan. Assange became involved with two women ? one of whom later accused him of coercion and molestation, another of whom alleged that he had had sex with her as she slept.
Swedish prosecutors have not charged Assange with any crime, but have demanded that he returns to Scandinavia to face questions about the case.
Assange, who was briefly detained in prison custody, has been living under curfew at a supporter's rural mansion in eastern England while he has contested the demand for his extradition.
The activist has been made the subject of an overnight curfew, must wear an electronic tag and report to police daily.
Assange has claimed the Swedish case is being politically manipulated following his organization's disclosure of classified U.S. documents.
At an appeal hearing in July, Assange's lawyer Ben Emmerson said that the women involved in the case may have found sex with his client "disrespectful, discourteous or disturbing," but added that it had been entirely consensual.
Emmerson told that hearing that Assange's actions wouldn't be illegal in the context of English law. "The conduct that is complained of would not constitute a crime in this jurisdiction," he said.
Assange had previously vowed to take his case to Britain's Supreme Court or the European Court of Human Rights if his appeal is rejected by the High Court.
___
Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter contributed to this report
___
Online:
WikiLeaks: http://wikileaks.ch/
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And we're off! These are some of our Hackathon Hackers, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to hack here at TC Disrupt BJ. We tried our hardest to grab some great folks and it's a pleasure working with these hardcore coders.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/O-QahwmuEw8/
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NEW YORK ? NBA owners and players made progress toward a new labor deal during more than 15 hours of talks and will return Thursday, still hoping an 82-game season is possible.
The talks Wednesday into Thursday morning were about the salary cap system, and Commissioner David Stern said they likely will stick with that issue when they resume.
"We were able to work through a number of different issues today regarding our system," union president Derek Fisher said. "We can't say that major progress was made in any way, but some progress was made on system issues. Obviously enough for us to come back."
And enough that the focus was more on games to be played, not canceled.
Though the remainder of the November schedule is already in jeopardy, Stern said he had no plans to cancel any more games at this moment. Instead, union officials said they believed a full schedule ? and the crucial first paycheck they seemed to have already lost ? was possible if an agreement is reached by the end of this weekend.
Stern said it would be difficult, but that the league intends to play as many games as possible.
"Whether that gets to be 82 games or not is dependent upon so many things that have to be checked," he said. "We just think we've got to do it soon."
Less than a week after perhaps the low moment of the lockout, when talks broke down last Thursday with some nasty talk afterward, the process seems back on track.
"There's no question that today was a better day than last Thursday," Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. "I think it's too early ? not just in the morning ? but still in the negotiations to express confidence that we're at a deal. But there's no question though that we did make progress on some significant issues, but there are still some very significant issues left."
Neither side would offer specifics or quantify the progress, but Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter said they might be in a better position to do so after talks later Thursday. Stern would only say that "the energy in the room has been good; the back and forth has been good."
The sides did not deal with the division of basketball revenues, the other big obstacle to a deal and the one that ended last week's talks.
It emerged as such a roadblock that union executive director Billy Hunter said they should "park" the issue and turn the discussions back to the system, saying that players might be willing to take a lower percentage if they found the system rules more favorable.
"I think we'll turn to the split when we finish with the system," Stern said. "Right now, it has been profitable to turn to the system."
Seeking greater parity among their 30 teams, owners are looking to reduce the ways that teams can exceed the salary cap so that big markets won't have a significant payroll advantage. Players have feared some of those changes would result in what would essentially be a hard salary cap, restricting player movement and perhaps even eliminating most guaranteed contracts.
But the league has insisted for months it can no longer move forward with a system where a team like Fisher's Lakers can greatly outspend most of its rivals.
"We are united on the NBA side in wanting a system that makes all teams competitive," Stern said. "We have some strong views on what the best way to do that is."
So do the players, who would like a system that looks much like the current soft cap structure. So even with Wednesday's progress, there are still system items to sort through. The sides have been struggling over things such as the length of the deal, players' contract lengths and the size of their raises.
"We're not going to get ahead of ourselves at this point," Fisher said. "We'll continue to remain focused on some key principal items in our system that have to remain there in order for our players to agree to what is already a reduced percentage of BRI."
The sides returned to bargaining with a small group meeting less than a week after three intense days of mediation didn't produce a new labor deal. Wednesday's negotiations marked the second-longest bargaining session since the lockout began July 1. The talks stretched into early Thursday morning, the first time bargaining has gone past 3 a.m.
And they ended with a feeling of optimism. In these negotiations, an agreement to keep talking the next day has sometimes qualified as progress. With time already lost, they can't afford another setback without the season likely starting in December at the earliest.
"It's sad that we've missed two weeks, and we're trying to apply a tourniquet and go forward," Stern said. "That's always been our goal."
Talks broke down last Thursday when players said owners insisted they agree to a 50-50 split of revenues as a condition to further discuss the salary cap system. Stern missed that meeting with the flu.
"I leave these guys alone for a little bit of time, and all hell breaks loose," he joked, motioning toward Silver.
The players have lowered their proposal to 52.5 percent of basketball-related income, leaving the sides about $100 million apart annually, based on last season's revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent of BRI under the previous collective bargaining agreement.
Stern rejoined the talks Wednesday after missing last Thursday's session with the flu. He was joined by Silver, owners Peter Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York, and a pair of league office attorneys.
They will brief the owners' labor relations committee via conference call Thursday before meeting with the players.
The union was represented by Hunter, Fisher and vice president Maurice Evans of the Wizards, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy, who will be unavailable Thursday because of another commitment.
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The purchase price of Google's acquisition of restaurant review and guide source Zagat has been pinpointed at $151 million in cash, according to an SEC filing by the company itself and reported by Reuters.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BigyWMywtO8/
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(Via CNN)
Marine archeologists say that the ancient wreckage of a ship discovered in the seabed off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, belongs to the ancient "lost fleet" of ships belonging to China's 13th century Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, CNN reports.Explorers found the 20-meter-long shipwreck by using ultra-sound equipment some 25 meters off the coast of Nagasaki. The team of researchers buried the ultra-sound sensors about a meter deep in the sandy earth beneath the sea. Archeologists believe the ship dates back to 1281, and was part of a 4,400-vessel fleet that China's Mongol rulers during the Yuan Dynasty had employed as an invasion force.
The discovery of the ship's well preserved and mostly intact 12-meter-long keel "could go a long way to helping researchers identify all the characteristics of the 20-meter warship," CNN reported, citing the head of the research team that made the discovery.
"This discovery was of major importance for our research," Yoshifumi Ikeda, of Okinawa's University of the Ryukyus, said at a recent press conference in Nagasaki, according to the CNN report. "We are planning to expand search efforts and find further information that can help us restore the whole ship."
According to Japanese legend, two typhoons--known as the Kamikaze--that occurred seven years apart in the 13th century twice saved Japan from Mongol invasion by "destroy[ing] two separate Mongol invasions fleets so large they were not eclipsed until the D-Day landings of World War II," CNN reported. China was not so spared, however, and was ruled by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty from 1271-1368.
"According to a contemporary account cited in the book Khubilai Khan's Lost fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armada," by maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado, the typhoon's destruction of the over 4,000-vessel Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet created such a vast quantity of material wreckage "that 'a person could walk across from one point of land to another on a mass of wreckage,'" CNN reported.
The wooden-planked ship, originally believed to have been painted light gray, is among "more than 4,000 artifacts, including ceramic shards, bricks used for ballast, cannonballs and stone anchors [that] have been found in the vicinity of the wreck, linking it to the Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet," CNN reported.
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By Leia Toovey ? Exclusive to Copper Investing News
Resource Investing News recently conducted an investor survey, the fourth of its kind in just under two years. The goal of the survey was to gauge investor interest and sentiment when it comes to investing in the resources. According to the results, investors are still interested in resources and see the potential for financial gain in this sector. Of particular interest to the survey respondents are investment opportunities in gold, base metals, potash and phosphate, and energy.
While survey respondents see potential in the resource sector, the recent global economic unraveling has left many unnerved. When asked what is the biggest risk to resource investors common responses included the government, American and Eurozone debt burdens, and the possibility of a slowdown in China.
The survey showed a fundamental change in what investors are interested in putting their money into. Since 2009, interest in copper stocks has risen by 28 percent. Remarkably, over the past year, when copper?s rally stalled, there was still an 11 percent gain in interest. Historically, copper has lagged behind other commodities, particularly silver and gold, in terms of investor interest. However, this trend is changing, with interest in the copper market as a whole growing.
Of the concerns?voiced by?respondents, the one most applicable to copper is fears that China?s growth will slow. China is the world?s largest copper consumer, and relies on imports for the majority of its supply. Arguably, China?s stockpiling program was the main reason why copper rallied so aggressively after the recession. China purchases copper and uses it both to maintain and build its infrastructure. With the country?s recent growth pattern of moving people from rural to urban environments, China?s underlying demand for the red metal is strong, despite what hiccups may come along the way.
It is important to consider China?s demand for copper when analyzing the red metal as China responds to differently fluctuations in copper prices than the western world. While westerners panic, worrying that a drop in ?Dr. Copper? means the economic has taken a downturn, China is more optimistic, and views it as an opportunity. China knows that it is going to need more copper, for years to come, and if prices dip, they look into purchases. Another concern that is raised about China?s likelihood to purchase copper is that the current price?despite having fallen from its record?is too high. But, to address this concern we have to consider that copper is priced in USD, and therefore, when priced in RMB, is nowhere near as high in record terms as it is in US dollars.
While demand from China is a huge factor in copper prices, similar economics in other emerging economies will provide the metal will more fundamental support. China is joined by India and Brazil in the fact that these emerging economies are seeing an unprecedented increase in their population?s wealth. As people move into higher income brackets, they begin seeking out better lifestyles, including better housing, more appliances. Better housing and more appliances mean more wiring, plumping and infrastructure, all of which require large amounts of copper.
Strong fundamentals alone will not dictate copper?s price. The red metal will react to global macroeconomics, however, analysts say that it would take a very long and very profound recession, perhaps a depression, to alter the favourable fundamentals supporting the metal.
Beyond a ?prolonged recession? neither new supply nor substitution have the ability to alter a commodities? supply/demand fundamentals. In terms of copper, neither supply nor substitution are likely to thwart the metal?s rally. Over the past 10 years demand for copper has increased almost 7-fold, while it has been nearly 100 years since a significant new copper discovery has been made.?In order to meet demand, we need to mine one new major mine every year.
Exploration projects were stifled in the midst of the recession, and new supply is very slow to come online, meanwhile, demand keeps growing. The only saving grace that this outlook has is recycling; copper recycling is going to have to ramp up in an effort to meet future demand.
In terms of copper substitution, the only viable substitute is aluminum, which is only a suitable substitute for some of copper?s applications. Even so, analysts caution that the aluminum supply is not large enough to replace all of the copper demand, and even if copper users were to turn to aluminum they would create a supply deficit in the aluminum market. ?A supply deficit would likely cause a price rally, which would in turn erode aluminum?s viability as an economic substitute for copper.
Looking forward
Despite retreating from its record price, copper still appears to be a fundamentally sound investment choice. Yu-Dee Chang of ACE Investment Strategists, told Resource Investing News believes that over the long term, copper?s fundamentals will remain tight, however, he was quick to caution that long-term predictions are difficult, as the market may change in ways that are not, at the present time, easy to see.
Source: http://copperinvestingnews.com/8455/investors-interested-in-copper/
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HEBRON, Conn. ? Steve Hoffman had expected to sell a lot of fall fertilizer this weekend at his hardware store in Hebron but instead spent Friday moving bags of ice melting pellets.
A storm moving up the East Coast was expected to combine with a cold air mass and dump anywhere from a dusting of snow to about 10 inches Saturday in parts of the Northeast.
"We're stocked up and we've already sold a few shovels," Hoffman said. "We actually had one guy come in and buy a roof rake."
National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said the rake probably won't be needed, but October snowfall records could be broken in parts of southern New England, especially at higher elevations. The October record for southern New England is 7.5 inches in Worcester in 1979.
The most snow will likely hit the Massachusetts Berkshires, the Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut, southwestern New Hampshire and the southern Green Mountains. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned residents that they could lose power.
The storm could bring more than 6 inches of snow to parts of Maine beginning Saturday night. Parts of southern Vermont could receive more than a foot of wet snow Saturday into Sunday.
In Pennsylvania, 6 to 10 inches could fall at higher elevations, including the Laurel Highlands in the southwestern part of the state and the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could see a coating.
"This is very, very unusual," said John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College, Pa. "It has all the look and feel of a classic midwinter nor'easter. It's going to be very dangerous."
The last major widespread snowstorm in Pennsylvania this early was in 1972, LaCorte said.
In New England, the first measurable snow usually falls in early December, and normal highs for late October are in the mid-50s.
"This is just wrong," said Dee Lund of East Hampton, who was at a Glastonbury garage getting four new tires put on her car before a weekend road trip to New Hampshire.
Lund said that after last winter's record snowfall, which left a 12-foot snow bank outside her house, she'd been hoping for a reprieve.
The good news, Simpson said, is that relatively warm water temperatures along the Atlantic seaboard would keep the snowfall totals much lower along the coast and in cities such as Boston. Temperatures should return to the mid-50s by midweek.
"This doesn't mean our winter is going to be terrible," he said. "You can't get any correlation from a two-day event."
Not everyone was lamenting the arrival of winter. Dan Patrylak, 79 of Glastonbury had just moved back to New England from Arizona and was picking up two new ice scrapers for his car. He said he was kind of looking forward to seeing snow on the ground again.
"In Phoenix, it's 113 all summer long," he said. "So, it just depends on where you are and what the weather is and you learn to accept that. Whatever it is, I'm going to be ready for it."
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Apple has made lots of noise about its gadgets' toxin-free designs and low power consumption. Not to be outdone, Samsung has released the Replenish, "An Android with the Earth in mind." You can even get it on Credo Mobile's network, if your idea of an environmentally-friendly smartphone is one where less than a dollar of your monthly bill goes to support progressive causes.
Annie Leonard's video, The Story of Electronics, is a good animated introduction to green electronics. What makes a smartphone really "green," though ... and is it even possible?
New building materials
The Recompute desktop PC has an outer case made of cardboard. It's a safe bet that most smartphones and tablets aren't going to go that route, especially when you need to keep them in your pocket or handbag. (Can you imagine what would happen if it rained?)
In the smartphone world, the Replenish and iPhone 4 might be the closest we've come. The Replenish's case is made partly out of recycled plastic, while the iPhone's is made out of metal and glass -- more recyclable than some materials.
"Recyclable" doesn't mean "recycled," though. In some ways, it's just a new buzzword to make you think that something is green. And in the tech industry, "recycling" often means shipping stuff out to China, where kids breathe in toxic fumes as they take it apart for scrap. (Fortunately, there are greener gadget recyclers out there.)
New power source
You probably know you can buy solar chargers for smartphones, now. Aside from for truckers and travelers, though, they're not going to see much use when it's quicker to charge off the USB or wall socket ... which makes those chargers just more new electronic gadgets made out of toxic chemicals.
What about human-powered smartphones? You could charge them up just by walking, whenever you're on the go. The technology isn't quite there yet, though, and is still the subject of research papers.
What to do, then?
The greenest smartphone is the one you have right now. Every year that you stick with last year's model is another in which a chunk of the environment wasn't torn up to make a smartphone.
The second-greenest? Not a refurb or "green" phone, but one that you love so much that you keep it for years and years. What good is it that your Samsung Replenish is partly recyclable, when you're going to recycle it much sooner than if you'd bought something else?
If you find a green or refurb phone that you love, more power to you, but that's just one consideration out of many. And one that, right now, is more bark than byte (so to speak).
Another thing you can do
Whatever smartphone that you get, you can invest in green energy for it by buying a smartphone-sized carbon offset, which are available in some stores. Maybe you don't have the option of using green energy where you live, but buying an offset can help to create a world where the next generation does. Just do your homework, and make sure the company offering them is actually doing something that helps.
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WASHINGTON ? The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the last three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl up in comparison, according to a government study.
Average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost quadrupled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the economic scale, after-tax income grew by just 40 percent. Those at the bottom experienced an 18 percent increase.
The report, based on IRS and Census Bureau data, comes as the Occupy Wall Street movement protests corporate bailouts and the gap between the haves and have-nots. Demonstrators call themselves "the 99 percent."
"The distribution of after-tax income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said in a blog post. "The share of income accruing to higher-income households increased, whereas the share accruing to other households declined."
The top 1 percent made $165,000 or more in 1979; that jumped to $347,000 or more in 2007, the study said. The income for the top fifth started at $51,289 in 1979 and rose to $70,578 in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, those in the 20th percentile went from $12,823 in 1979 to $14,851 in 2007.
The report also found:
_The top 20 percent of the population earned 53 percent of after-tax income in 2007, as opposed to 43 percent in 1979.
_The top 1 percent reaped a 17 percent share of all income, up from 8 percent in 1979.
_The bottom 20 percent reaped just 5 percent of after-tax income, versus 7 percent in 1979.
Lawmakers and presidential candidates are mulling overhauling the tax code ? some propose a flat tax that critics say could magnify the income gap ? and a congressional "supercommittee" is weighing options to cut the deficit.
President Barack Obama has toured the country promising to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to finance his jobs agenda, which includes continuing a payroll tax cut, boosting infrastructure spending and helping local governments avoid layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.
In a speech Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee, decried Obama's moves as "class warfare" and said GOP policies would preserve "equality of opportunity."
"Telling people they are stuck in their current station in life, that they are victims of circumstances beyond their control, and that the government's role is to help them cope with it ? well, that's not who we are," Ryan said at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo indicating the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 121.81 points, to end morning session at 9048.35, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Asian stock markets rose Friday, continuing to be buoyed by a European deal aimed at slashing Greece's massive debt and preventing the crisis from engulfing too big to bailout countries such as Italy. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo indicating the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 121.81 points, to end morning session at 9048.35, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Asian stock markets rose Friday, continuing to be buoyed by a European deal aimed at slashing Greece's massive debt and preventing the crisis from engulfing too big to bailout countries such as Italy. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo indicating the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 121.81 points, to end morning session at 9048.35, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Asian stock markets rose Friday, continuing to be buoyed by a European deal aimed at slashing Greece's massive debt and preventing the crisis from engulfing too big to bailout countries such as Italy. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
BANGKOK (AP) ? World stock markets climbed again Friday, continuing to be buoyed by a European deal aimed at slashing Greece's massive debt and preventing the crisis from engulfing "too big to bailout" countries such as Italy.
Oil prices lingered above $93 per barrel and the dollar gained against the euro but slipped against the yen.
European shares were higher in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent to 5,720.79. Germany's DAX gained 0.9 percent to 6,394.05 and France's CAC-40 added 0.6 percent at 3,390.09.
But the euphoria began to wear off on Wall Street, which appeared headed for a lower opening. Dow Jones industrial futures fell 0.4 percent to 12,123 and S&P 500 futures were 0.4 percent lower at 1,278.10.
Asian stocks posted a second day of gains on the European news.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.4 percent to close at 9,050.47, its highest close since Sept. 1. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.7 percent to 20,01924 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 1,929.48.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 percent to 4,353.30 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 1.6 percent to 2,473.41. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand were also higher.
After two years of unsuccessful attempts to address the continent's debt problems, European leaders unveiled a deal Thursday aimed at preventing the Greek government's inability to pay its debt from escalating into another financial crisis like the one that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Banks are being asked to take 50 percent losses on the Greek bonds they hold. Europe will also strengthen a financial rescue fund to protect the region's banks that will also be used to insure some potential losses on the debt of weak eurozone economies like Italy, which is considered too big to bail out.
But some analysts cautioned that Europe was still at risk, since mapping out the rescue plan was simple, compared to the complex and costly task of implementing it.
"I think there is euphoria of Europe finally solving its problems. But the question is, how do you finance the financial stability fund? Who is supposed to pay for it? That is left blank," said Francis Lun, a Hong Kong-based analyst.
"For the moment, Greece will not go under. That is all we know. But the commercial banks will take a big hit," Lun said. "That will really kill them."
But renewed confidence in Europe helped fuel a surge on Wall Street that also boosted stocks in Asia, as did signs of stronger U.S. economic growth and corporate earnings.
Japanese steel makers Nippon Steel Corp. rose 3.4 percent and Kobe Steel Ltd. gained 4.7 percent. Heavy equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. jumped 5.6 percent.
South Korean industrial shares also rose. Steel giant POSCO gained 1.6 percent while Hyundai Heavy Industries, the country's leading shipbuilder, gained 0.7 percent.
Chinese property shares continued to climb on speculation that China might relax its inflation-fighting measures that have drained liquidity out of the financial markets. Hong Kong-listed Poly Real Estate Group added 4.4 percent and China Vanke Co. Ltd. jumped 7.3 percent.
The U.S. government reported that the American economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate from July through September on stronger consumer spending and business investment. That was nearly double the 1.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average soared 2.9 percent to 12,208.55 ? its largest jump since Aug. 11. The S&P 500 rose 3.7 percent to 1,284.59. The Nasdaq composite leaped up 3.3 percent to 2,738.63.
Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 79 cents at $93.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $3.76, or 4.2 percent, to settle at $93.96 in New York on Thursday.
Brent crude was down 33 cents at $111.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.
In currencies, the euro softened to $1.4178 from $1.4216 late Thursday in New York. The dollar slipped to 75.82 yen from 75.94 yen. The greenback hit a new record low against the yen the previous day, sinking to 75.63 yen at one point.
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Motorola Mobility reports $3.3 billion in revenue and $32 million net loss, offers more details on Google buyout originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WASHINGTON ? Top congressional Republicans, Democrats and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are united in a single message to the special bipartisan committee looking for ways to cut the deficit: Leave military spending alone.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday that the Pentagon budget was cut more than enough in the debt accord this past summer by President Barack Obama and Republicans.
That deal calls for cuts of $350 billion in projected spending over 10 years. The Pentagon is planning on reductions of about $450 billion.
"I would argue that they've taken more than their fair share of the hits," Boehner said.
His comments echo the argument made by others lawmakers as well as Panetta, who in recent speeches and congressional testimony insisted that the Pentagon be spared further cuts.
Rising deficits and deep debt have forced the federal government to slash spending, even at the Pentagon.
The Department of Defense's budget has nearly doubled to $700 billion in the 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. Those numbers do not include the trillion-plus spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 12-member supercommittee has a mandate to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in overall spending cuts over 10 years. If it fails to do so by Nov. 23 or if Congress rejects its plan, then automatic, across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion kick in, with half coming from defense.
Panetta has called that the "doomsday mechanism" and lawmakers have warned of the dire consequences of such reductions that would mean about $1 trillion over 10 years.
In a speech Thursday, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said simply insisting on no more cuts is insufficient. He said lawmakers not only need to offer alternatives to the supercommittee, including raising revenue, but also be open to other options.
Otherwise, "defense is going to be crucified," he said.
Speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, Smith said, "If we don't step up and confront the problem with either revenue or spending outside the defense budget, give the supercommittee somewhere to go, give people who want to control the deficit, including our bond raters, somewhere to go, inevitably defense is going to be crushed."
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The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale.
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JERUSALEM ? International mediators will sit down with Palestinian and Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday in the hope of finding a formula to restart the deadlocked peace talks.
But in a telling commentary on the beleaguered state of peacemaking, they will be huddling separately with officials from each side and will not be meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
The mission by the Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators comes after the Palestinians asked the United Nations last month to recognize an independent state of Palestine. The request defied a U.S.-led effort to block the move, which is currently under review at the U.N. Security Council.
Immediately after the statehood application was submitted, the Quartet ? representing the U.S., European Union, Russia and U.N. ? called for a resumption of peace talks in a month, with the ambitious goal of reaching a peace agreement by late 2012.
The Palestinian official who was to meet with the Quartet sounded gloomy about prospects for resuming peacemaking.
"We have no expectations of this meeting because the Quartet has no vision of how to move the peace process forward," Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine Radio on Wednesday.
The Palestinians rejected a Quartet proposal to have Erekat meet face to face with the Israeli official Yitzhak Molcho.
They refuse to resume direct talks until Israel agrees to freeze construction on captured lands the Palestinians claim for a future state. They also want to base talks on the contours of a future Palestinian state on lines Israel held before capturing east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel rejects both conditions.
Israel still occupies east Jerusalem and the West Bank. It withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but still controls the land crossing between Israel and Gaza and maintains a naval blockade on the territory, which is controlled by anti-Israel Hamas militants.
Israel says it is prepared to sit down with the Palestinians at any time but only without conditions. But Palestinians are skeptical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment to peacemaking because of hardline positions he has taken, including his opposition to partitioning Jerusalem.
"Israel has welcomed the Quartet's call for the resumption of direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians without preconditions," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Wednesday. "And we hope to see the early resumption of such talks."
Talks stalled three years ago, then resumed for a brief three weeks in September 2010 before collapsing after a 10- month Israeli settlement construction slowdown expired.
The deadlock prompted the Palestinians to seek statehood through the U.N., where the move faces a threatened U.S. veto at the Security Council if the Palestinians manage to muster the required support of nine of the council's 15 members.
Without Security Council backing, the most the Palestinians can hope for is a largely symbolic upgrade of their status at the U.N. to-member observer state.
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OAKLAND, Calif. ? Police in riot gear clashed with anti-Wall Street protesters overnight, firing tear gas and beanbag rounds at hundreds of demonstrators in Oakland and forcibly evicting and arresting more than 50 others in Atlanta.
The moves come as business owners, residents and officials in cities where encampments have sprouted up since the movement began last month are increasingly complaining about crime, sanitation problems and disruptions to business.
The encampments were empty in both cities on Wednesday, as police stood guard nearby.
Overnight, the scenes in Oakland were chaotic, with officers firing tear gas and beanbag rounds over three hours as protesters tried to re-establish a tent camp outside city hall that they had been evicted from earlier Tuesday.
Officials complained about what they described as deteriorating safety, sanitation and health issues at the dismantled camp.
Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan told reporters at a late night news conference that authorities had no other choice, saying the protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at officers. City officials said two officers were injured.
"We had to deploy gas to stop the crowd," he said, according to a KCBS report.
Police have denied reports that they used flash bang canisters to help break up the crowds, saying the loud noises came from large firecrackers thrown at police by protesters.
The chemical haze from the tear gas hung in the air for hours, new blasts clouding the air before the previous fog could dissipate. The number of protesters diminished with each round of tear gas.
Police estimated that there were roughly 1,000 demonstrators at the first clash. Nearly 100 people were arrested, mostly on suspicion of misdemeanor unlawful assembly and illegal camping.
Among the protesters were young adults, some riding bicycles, protecting themselves from the noxious fumes with bandanas and scarves wrapped around their faces. Protesters were still resolved to continue.
"This movement is more than just the people versus the police," Mario Fernandez said. "It's about the people trying to have their rights to basic services." He added, "This crowd isn't going anywhere anytime soon."
In Atlanta, helicopters hovered and trained spotlights on the city's downtown as police in riot gear moved into a small city park just after midnight and arrested protesters who had been there in tents for about two weeks.
Before police marched in, protesters were warned a couple times around midnight to vacate the park or risk arrest. Inside the park, the warnings were drowned out by drumbeats and chants of "Our park!"
Organizers had instructed participants to be peaceful if arrests came, and most were.
Many gathered in the center of the park, locking arms, and sang "We Shall Overcome," until police led them out, one-by-one to waiting buses. Some were dragged out while others left on foot, handcuffed with plastic ties.
The police presence was "overkill," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, who was among those arrested after coming to the park in support of the protesters. He called the camp "the most peaceful place in Georgia."
"At the urging of the business community, he's moving people out," he said, referring to Mayor Kasim Reed. "Shame on him."
Police included SWAT teams in riot gear, dozens of officers on motorcycles and several on horseback. By about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday the park was mostly cleared of protesters.
Reed said he was upset over an advertised hip-hop concert that he said drew 600 people to the park over the weekend but didn't have a permit and didn't have security guards to work the crowd, calling it irresponsible.
Reed said he had serious security concerns that he said were heightened Tuesday when a man was seen in the park with an assault rifle. He said authorities could not determine whether the gun was loaded, and were unable to get additional information about it.
An Associated Press reporter talked to the man with the gun slung across his back earlier Tuesday as he walked in the park. He wouldn't give his name, but said he was an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views.
He said he was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest.
There's no law that prevents him from carrying the gun in public, but police followed him for about 10 minutes before moving off.
Across the country, complaints about crime and sanitation have been increasing as protesters prepare to settle in for the winter.
The mayor of Providence, R.I., is threatening to go to court within days to evict demonstrators from a park.
Businesses and residents near New York's Zuccotti Park, the unofficial headquarters of the movement, are demanding something be done to discourage the hundreds of protesters from urinating in the street and making noise at all hours.
"A lot of tourists coming down from hotels are so disgusted and disappointed when they see this," said Stacey Tzortzatos, manager of a sandwich shop near Zuccotti Park. "I hope for the sake of the city the mayor does close this down."
She complained that the protesters who come in by the dozen to use her bathroom dislodged a sink and caused a flood, and that police barricades are preventing her normal lunch crowd from stopping by.
In Philadelphia, city officials have been waiting almost two weeks for Occupy Philly to respond to a letter containing a list of health and safety concerns. City Managing Director Richard Negrin said officials can't wait much longer to address hazards such as smoking in tightly packed tents, camp layouts that hinder emergency access, and exposure to human waste.
"Every day that they haven't addressed these public safety concerns simply increases the risk," he said Tuesday.
Stephen Campbell, a protester in Boston, said the troublemakers are the minority.
"We have a policy here: no drugs, no alcohol," he said. "Us occupiers really try to stick true to that. Other people who move in, who maybe have an alcohol problem or a drug problem, you know, we're not fully equipped to handle things like that."
In Minneapolis, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson said some constituents who work downtown are getting a little tired of the piles of belongings cluttering the plaza, while others are worried about escalating costs.
The sheriff's department has already spent more than $200,000, most of that in overtime.
Oakland officials had initially been supportive of the protests, with Mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy."
But tensions reached a boiling point after a sexual assault, a severe beating and a fire were reported and paramedics were denied access to the camp, according to city officials. They also cited concerns about rats, fire hazards and public urination.
When police moved in, they were pelted with rocks, bottles and utensils from people in the camp's kitchen area, but no injuries were reported. Protesters were taken away in plastic handcuffs, most of them arrested on suspicion of illegal lodging.
Protesters disputed the city's claims about conditions at the camp.
Lauren Richardson, a college student from Oakland, said that volunteers collected garbage and recycling every six hours, that water was boiled before being used to wash dishes, and that rats had infested the park long before the camp went up.
"It was very neat. It was very organized," Richardson said.
In New York, the neighborhood board voted Tuesday night to pass a resolution that proposed off-site portable bathrooms funded by local donors, said Julie Menin, head of the board. The resolution also requested that loud noises, like the blast of air horns and group chanting, be limited to two hours during the day.
The park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, tried to push the protesters out two weeks ago to clean it but backed off at the last minute after a public outcry.
Menin said the neighborhood does not believe the protesters should be kicked out. "We do not want the city to use force in any way," she said. "And we think it's possible to address quality-of-life issues."
___
Associated Press Writers Verena Dobnik and Deepti Hajela in New York; Amy Forliti in Minneapolis; Ben Nuckols in Washington; Jay Lindsay in Boston; Marcus Wohlsen in Oakland, Calif.; Harry R. Weber in Atlanta; Erika Niedowski in Providence, R.I.; Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore.; and Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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