Italy, mired in a fourth recession since 2001, is struggling to shake the threat of debt-crisis contagion even as the nation
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Rupert Murdoch’s newest newspaper launched Sunday with a familiar mix of celebrity news, scantily clad women and defiant language.
The Sun’s Sunday edition hit the stands two weeks after five employees of the tabloid were arrested in an inquiry into the alleged payment of bribes to police and defense officials.
The new Sunday tabloid replaces The News of the World, which closed in July after an advertising boycott led Murdoch to pull the 168-year-old paper. Britons were disgusted by revelations that the paper had routinely hacked into the phones of those in the public eye _ including, most notoriously, a missing schoolgirl whose murder had shocked the country.
The scandal has spawned three parallel police investigations and a judge led inquiry into media ethics, all of which are ongoing. Dozens have been arrested or been pushed to resign because of the scandal, include two of Britain’s top police officers, who were accused of not doing enough to get to grips with the tabloid’s wrongdoing.
The Sun Sunday said in its editorial that the scandal had been “a sobering experience for our entire industry.”
“The Sun has been a tremendous force for good. It is worth reminding our readers, and detractors, of that as we publish our historic first Sunday edition during what is a challenging period,” it said.
Murdoch flew to London to oversee the launch of the newspaper and was at the printing presses north of London on Saturday night to see the first editions appear.
The newspaper turns The Sun _ Britain’s biggest selling newspaper _ into a seven day operation, run by the same editor Dominic Mohan.
The front page story is an interview with British actress Amanda Holden speaking about the birth of her baby where she hemorrhaged badly and columns by model Katie Price and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu.
Journalist Peter Preston wrote in The Observer newspaper that The Sun Sunday lacks “any real revelation or guilty pleasures.”
Britain’s media ethics scandal flared again last week just ahead of the launch of the newspaper, with two men arrested on suspicion of computer hacking Friday and a senior police officer placed under investigation for allegedly leaking information to Murdoch’s News International.
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In a ruling that appears headed toward appeal, a federal judge has ruled that Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives.
The state’s true goal in adopting the rules at issue was not to promote the timely access to medicine, but to suppress religious objections by druggists who believe that such drugs can have an effect tantamount to abortion, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said in his ruling Wednesday.
Washington’s rules require that pharmacies stock and dispense drugs for which there is a demand. The state adopted the dispensing regulations in 2007, following reports that some women had been denied access to Plan B, which has a high dose of medicine found in birth-control pills and is effective if a woman takes it within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
State lawyers argued that the requirements are legal because they apply neutrally to all medicines and pharmacies, and because they promote a government interest _ the timely delivery of medicine, including Plan B, which becomes less effective as time passes.
But a pharmacy and two pharmacists sued, saying the rules infringed on their religious freedom, and the judge agreed.
The state allows all sorts of business exemptions to the rules, he noted. Pharmacies can decline to stock a drug, such as certain painkillers, if it’s likely to increase the risk of theft, or if it requires an inordinate amount of paperwork, or if the drug is temporarily unavailable from suppliers, among other reasons.
“The most compelling evidence that the rules target religious conduct is the fact the rules contain numerous secular exemptions,” the judge said. “In sum, the rules exempt pharmacies and pharmacists from stocking and delivering lawfully prescribed drugs for an almost unlimited variety of secular reasons, but fail to provide exemptions for reasons of conscience.”
The decision comes as contraception has been debated in political and health care circles around the nation. A controversy erupted this month when religious groups protested a new federal rule that required church-affiliated universities, hospitals and nonprofits to include birth control without co-pays or premiums in their insurance plans.
The outcry prompted President Barack Obama to change the rule to shift the burden from religious organizations to insurance companies. Lawmakers in a few conservative states have taken up the fight with proposals that serve as direct challenges to Obama’s ruling.
Leighton, in his decision Wednesday, did not strike down Washington’s rules, but said simply that the way they were applied to the plaintiffs in this case was unconstitutional.
The state remains free to try to enforce the law against other pharmacies that violate the stocking and dispensing rules, whether for Plan B or other drugs; it remains unclear whether courts would reach a similar conclusion if pharmacies objected to selling other drugs for religious reasons.
“I remain concerned about the impacts on patients if pharmacies are allowed to refuse to dispense lawfully prescribed or lawful medications to patients,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who insisted on the dispensing rule’s adoption. “I am especially concerned about those living in rural areas, many of whom may have few alternatives and could suffer lengthy delays in receiving medication or go without entirely.”
The judge, an appointee of President George W. Bush, first blocked the state’s dispensing rule in 2007. But a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled him, saying the rules did not target religious conduct. It sent the case back to Leighton, who held an 11-day trial before reaffirming his original decision.
Further appeals were expected, both from the state and from groups that intervened on the state’s behalf. Before taking more than an hour to read his 48-page opinion in court, Leighton acknowledged that he crafted it for the benefit of a “skeptical” appeals court.
The interveners included women who were denied timely access to Plan B when they needed it _ one of whom cut short a vacation in central Washington to return home to Bellingham, where she knew she could obtain Plan B from her regular pharmacy _ as well as HIV patients, who argued that if druggists could refuse to dispense Plan B for religious reasons, some might also refuse to dispense time-sensitive HIV medications.
“The question really is whether the patient’s rights come first or the pharmacist’s rights come first,” said Andrew Greene, a lawyer for the interveners.
Assistant Attorney General Rene Tomisser said Leighton’s ruling was “more detailed” but made the same mistake he made in 2007.
Margo Thelen, of Woodland, one of the pharmacists who sued over the rules, said she had to leave one job because she refused to dispense Plan B _ and now she can continue working at her new job without fear of being fired.
“Speak to anyone who shops in a pharmacy,” she said. “Their product isn’t always available.”
Two Supreme Court cases guide judges in determining whether laws that infringe upon the free exercise of religion are legal.
In one, the court held that the state of Oregon could outlaw the use of the hallucinogenic peyote for everyone, even though some groups might use it in religious conduct.
In the other, the court held that a city in Florida could not outlaw animal sacrifices for religious purposes, while allowing the slaughter of animals for food, hunting and pest eradication.
Leighton said Washington’s rules are akin to the Florida case. Though they appear to be neutral by their plain language, the state allows pharmacies not to stock or sell drugs for various business reasons, he said.
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Germany’s finance minister says he is confident that Europe’s politicians will manage to stabilize the eurozone in 2012 and keep the continent’s common currency together.
Wolfgang Schaeuble acknowledged in an interview with business daily Handelsblatt published Friday that major problems that have built up over a long time remain to be tackled in some countries.
However, he added, “I think we will be far enough along in the next 12 months that we will have banished the dangers of contagion and stabilized the eurozone.”
Asked whether he could rule out the 17-nation eurozone breaking up, Schaeuble was quoted as saying: “According to everything that I know at the moment, yes.” He insisted that Europe’s politicians “are doing everything to prevent the common currency falling apart.”
“Of course, the European Union cannot force anyone to stay in if they don’t want to belong any more,” he added. “But no such development can be seen at the moment.”
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is a key player in the long-running battle to stem the eurozone debt crisis. It has backed the strategy of getting governments to embark on often-savage austerity measures to reduce deficits.
But it has opposed measures such as issuing jointly backed eurobonds and argued that there is no quick fix to the crisis, expressing great skepticism about the wisdom of a major government bond-buying drive by the European Central Bank that is advocated by many as a way of forcing down struggling countries’ borrowing costs guaranteed fast personal loans.
“The talk of bazookas and the like only leads to us not tackling sustainably the causes of the crisis,” Schaeuble was quoted as saying.
The eurozone will quickly face new challenges in 2012, with both Italy and Spain needing to borrow large amounts of money early in the new year. Both countries face high borrowing costs.
Schaeuble acknowledged that Europe’s refinancing needs in early 2012 are “not trivial.”
“But the more we win back confidence on the markets, the more investors … will invest in the eurozone, and not just in German bonds,” he said. “There is no shortage of money worldwide.”
“In case of doubt, a somewhat higher interest rate has to be paid for some government bonds,” Schaeuble said. “That is not damaging per se and also can encourage the understanding that we have to tackle the actual causes of the crisis: overly high debts and a lack of competitiveness.”
Schaeuble said he sees no sign of a credit crunch in Germany. Asked about other countries, he pointed to the ECB’s moves to provide massive long-term loans to banks.
“Given the measures the ECB has taken to provide banks with liquidity, it is hard to imagine that banks would not be in a position to provide sufficient loans to business,” he said.
+%3Cp%3E+This+holiday+season+is+your+last+chance+to+stop+by+the+bank+and+buy+a+paper+savings+bond%2C+either+for+yourself+or+your+loved+ones.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EStarting+Jan.+1%2C+you%27ll+no+longer+be+able+to+purchase+paper+savings+bonds+at+banks+or+other+financial+institutions.+Instead%2C+the+savings+bonds%2C+which+have+been+around+since+1935%2C+will+be+replaced+by+electronic+bonds+that+can+only+be+purchased+online.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+Treasury+Department%27s+Bureau+of+Public+Debt+announced+the+%26quot%3Ball-electronic+initiative%26quot%3B+last+year%2C+and+the+agency+has+already+ended+the+sale+of+paper+bonds+through+traditional+payroll+plans.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+department+estimated+that+the+digital+initiative%2C+which+eliminates+costs+associated+with+printing%2C+mailing%2C+storage+and+fees+paid+to+financial+institutions+for+processing+savings+bond+applications%2C+could+result+in+a+total+savings+of+%24120+million+over+the+next+five+years.+%3C%2Fp%3EDo+I+have+to+pay+taxes+on+savings+bond+interest%3F%3Cp%3EIf+you+want+to+buy+a+savings+bond+in+2012%2C+you%27ll+need+to+have+an+online+account+with+the+Treasury+Department.+To+give+a+bond+to+another+person%2C+they+will+also+need+an+account+so+you+can+transmit+the+bond+electronically+to+them.+And+if+you%27re+giving+a+bond+to+anyone+under+the+age+of+18%2C+a+parent+or+guardian+must+open+the+account.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBut+until+Jan.+1%2C+you+still+have+the+chance+to+scoop+up+the+last+paper+savings+bonds+that+banks+have+–+potentially+even+turning+your+gift+of+a+once+common+slip+of+paper+into+a+collector%27s+item.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%26quot%3BAbout+7+billion+paper+bonds+have+been+sold+and+circulated%2C+so+the+rarity+of+it+is+another+question%2C+but+certainly+some+people+might+look+at+it+as+collector%27s+item%2C%26quot%3B+said+Joyce+Harris%2C+a+spokeswoman+for+the+Treasury+Department%27s+Bureau+of+Public+Debt.+%26quot%3BIf+someone+looks+at+the+issue+date+100+years+from+today+they+may+say%2C+%27this+is+one+of+the+last+paper+bonds+ever+issued.%27%26quot%3B+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThere%27s+one+exception%2C+however%3A+you%27ll+still+be+able+to+use+your+tax+refund+to+buy+Series+I+paper+savings+bonds+come+2012.+But+Joyce+said+she+isn%27t+sure+how+long+that+option+will+be+offered.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%26quot%3BWe%27re+definitely+transitioning+to+electronic%2C%26quot%3B+she+said.+%26quot%3BIt%27s+still+a+good+investment+and+a+safe+investment+…+it%27s+just+that+we+have+decided+to+transition+into+a+different+form+and+really+focus+the+program+online+to+save+taxpayers+money.%26quot%3B+%3C%2Fp%3EWhat%27s+your+savings+bond+worth%3F%3Cp%3EIn+2012%2C+you+will+only+be+able+to+buy+electronic+savings+bonds+in+Series+EE+and+I+through+TreasuryDirect%2C+a+free+online+bond-buying+portal+that+has+been+available+since+2002.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EFor+current+paper+bond-holders%2C+you+can+still+redeem+them+at+financial+institutions.+Paper+bonds+that+have+yet+to+reach+their+maturity+date+and+have+been+lost%2C+stolen+or+destroyed%2C+may+also+be+converted+to+electronic+form.%26nbsp%3B+%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2011%2F12%2F16%2Fpf%2Fpaper_savings_bonds%2Findex.htm%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+
Applause and cheers rang out after Unionized Boeing Machinists voted overwhelmingly to approve a four-year contract extension _ a deal that grants the company labor peace and likely ends a federal complaint that had become a hot topic for Republican presidential candidates.
Boeing promised that if workers approved the pact, the company would build the new version of the popular 737 in the Puget Sound region, while the Machinists said they’d drop their allegations that Boeing opened a nonunion assembly plant in South Carolina in retaliation for previous strike.
“This contract signifies jobs throughout the Northwest, throughout the region,” said the union’s aerospace coordinator, Mark Blondin. “The message of this contract is … Boeing is acknowledging we have the deepest pool of skilled aerospace workers in the country.”
Dozens union members sounded their approval with cheers Wednesday night as Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists District Lodge 751, announced that 74 percent of voting members chose to approve the deal.
The union represents 28,000 workers in Washington, Oregon and Kansas.
Machinists went on strike in 2005 and 2008. The latter strike helped delay delivery of Boeing’s first 787, costing the company dearly.
“This contract will help secure a better future for our employees, our customers, our communities and our company,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “It reflects an effort on the part of the company and the union to find a better way to work together and achieve common ground.”
The deal guarantees Chicago-based Boeing a stretch of labor peace at a time when it badly needs it. Competition with European rival Airbus is tight, and looming budget cuts at the Defense Department are likely to cut into the company’s defense business.
In a lawsuit filed this year, the National Labor Relations Board claimed Boeing violated labor laws by opening the South Carolina line. The case became a political issue, with Republican presidential candidates using it to bash the Obama administration. South Carolina Gov cash advance. Nikki Haley and the state’s congressional delegation said the NLRB lawsuit threatened thousands of jobs and millions of dollars invested in the new Boeing facility in Charleston.
The labor board is an independent agency dominated by the president’s appointees. As part of the deal, the Machinists said they’d drop the matter. If the NLRB follows suit, it would remove a potentially damaging element for Obama in the 2012 campaign.
The deal extends the Machinists’ contract to September 2016. It calls for annual wage increases of 2 percent, cost-of-living adjustments, an incentive program intended to pay bonuses between 2 percent and 4 percent, a ratification bonus of $5,000 for each member, and improvements in the pension program. But it also would raise workers’ share of health costs.
Blondin said Boeing’s pension is the most generous in the country, and he hoped the fact that Boeing is retaining it for new hires would prompt other companies to do likewise: “As we all know pension plans have gone away,” he said. “We can get pensions back. They are affordable.”
Crucially for the union, it would ensure that jobs for Boeing’s updated 737 line _ the 737 Max _ stay in the Puget Sound region. Boeing said in July it was studying other locations for the new 737.
“It’s jobs for the people and not having to worry about a strike _ it’s beautiful,” said Gabrielle Rogano, a third-generation Boeing employee who works at a shipping and receiving center in SeaTac.
Wilson Ferguson, a delivery mechanic, wore a Santa suit as he helped count votes Wednesday night _ having come straight from volunteering to pose for photos with children of union members. The 24-year Boeing veteran has participated in the last four strikes, and said it’s a huge relief not to face another.
“Nobody wins, you never recover,” he said. “With this economy, it’s not the time to go on strike.”
A string of bombings in a southern oil city killed 19 people Thursday evening and injured dozens more, a grim sign of the security challenges Iraq will face after American troops go home.
The U.S. military is drawing down its troops ahead of an end-of-December deadline to have all American forces out of the country. Incidents like Thursday’s triple bombing in a city seen as key to Iraq’s economic development show the dangerous prospects awaiting Iraqis next year.
Three bombs went off in a popular open-air market in Basra, police and health officials said.
The third bomb exploded a few minutes after Iraqi army and police forces arrived on the scene in response to the earlier blasts, officials said. The third blast caused all the fatalities and almost all of the injuries, the officials said.
Among the dead and wounded were many policemen and Iraqi army soldiers.
The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Kamal Ali was working at a clothing shop across the street when the blasts went off. He said after the first explosion, bystanders rushed to help the victims. When another blast went off about five minutes later, the terrified people ran to escape.
Then police and soldiers rushed to the scene before the third and most deadly bomb went off.
“Most of the casualties are police and Iraqi troops who rushed to help the victims and cordoned off the scene no fax pay day loan. They sacrificed their lives for the poor people,” Ali said.
The head of the Basra provincial council, Ahmed al-Sulaiti, confirmed the incident.
“We can’t blame the security forces for this act. They were the people most hurt,” he said by telephone from Basra.
Basra is about 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad It is considered the center of Iraq’s burgeoning oil sector.
Many foreign oil companies have offices there. The country is relying on foreign companies to bring the money and expertise needed to develop Iraq’s vast oil sector, which has been ravaged by war, sanctions and neglect.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, and it was not clear whether it was the work of Sunni extremists like al-Qaida, or by Shiite militias. Sunni militants often stagger their blasts in order to cause the most carnage, and they often target security officials, whom they see as propping up the Shiite-led government.
The area where the blasts occurred is also a stronghold for Shiite militia members, who have been known to use violence as they jockey for power and control.
__
Associated Press writers Mazin Yahya and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Stock futures rose Wednesday on hopes that Europe will finally take the bold steps needed to stem its financial crisis.
The European Union is expected to present a new plan Wednesday to strengthen weak banks and lower Greece’s debt burden. The plan is considered the boldest yet to stem the debt crisis that threatens to push the global economy into another recession.
The plan comes a day after Slovakia rejected a bill that would have given more power to Europe’s financial rescue program. Sixteen other countries that use the euro have already approved the bill, but the measure requires unanimous support. Still, there are ways around Slovakia’s opposition, and investors predict the bill will ultimately pass.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 95 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,425 about 45 minutes before the opening bell.
Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 10, or 0.8 percent, to 1,199. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 26, or 1.1 percent, to 2,314.
Earnings season is under way, and so far results are mixed. PepsiCo Inc. rose 1.4 percent in premarket trading after the company said its profit rose because of stronger sales of its snacks and beverages, particularly in overseas markets.
Yet Alcoa Inc. dropped 4.1 percent ahead of the opening after the aluminum maker reported earnings that were weaker than analysts expected. A 12 percent drop in aluminum prices in the third quarter dragged down results.
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. fell 3.2 percent after the lodging real estate investment trust lowered its full-year forecast for funds from operations, a key measure of its financial performance.
Young people have always struggled to find work, but in difficult economic times, it becomes more pronounced.
The barriers pile up. Mandatory retirement has been eliminated, baby boomers are choosing to hang on to their jobs, and workers who have been laid-off are competing with new graduates for a smaller pool of jobs.
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