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Italy’s government on Tuesday approved the release of euro4.8 billion ($6.4 billion) from state coffers to fund strategic infrastructure projects aimed at stimulating economic growth.

The funds will pay for highway projects, high-speed railways and retractable underwater barriers to help protect Venice from flooding. They were released as part of Premier Mario Monti’s program to help Italy exit the sovereign debt crisis and build market confidence to save the euro currency.

Monti, an economist and former EU commissioner who took office less than three weeks ago, announced emergency measures on Sunday that seek to save euro30 billion through austerity measures, and reinvest euro10 billion of savings from those measures to enhance growth, stuck at zero for a decade.

The emergency decree allows the funds to be released immediately, but Parliament must still convert the measures to law. Approval is expected by Christmas, although major parties on the right and left want to make changes.

Monti has combined the powerful economic development and infrastructure ministries under Corrado Passera, formerly CEO of Banca IntesaSanpaolo, to ensure good coordination on projects that can boost economic growth. Many of the projects have been stalled in progress or stuck in planning due to a combination of local resistance and interruptions in state funding.

Economists have mixed views on how effective infrastructure programs are for spurring economic growth, with most favoring privately funded projects for better stimulus. Still, longer-term projects, like railways, usually require state funding because the investment period is too long for many investors.

The new funding includes euro2 billion to upgrade the Treviglio-Brescia and Milan-Genoa railway lines, both in the north, to highspeed, euro598 million for highways, and euro600 million for the Venetian lagoon mobile barriers, a project already more than two years behind schedule due to financial problems.

The projects are expected to stimulate growth through putting people to work, as well as keeping construction contracts flowing.

The gates _ called Moses, after the Old Testament figure who parted the Red Sea _ would be activated when the tide reaches 110 centimeters (43 inches), which happens on average four times a year. St. Mark’s Square floods when the tide reaches just 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) _ and most of the city’s artistic treasures are kept above 2 meters (6.6 feet) for their protection.

Other measures taken by the Monti government include raising the pension age and seniority requirements, slimming down provincial governments, reinstating a tax on first homes, raising taxes on large boats, high-performance cars and private jets and helicopters.

Monti has described the measures as a first step by his government of technocrats tasked with reforming the Italian economy, balancing its budget and spurring moribund growth. He has emphasized that he will step down at the end of his mandate, which could run into 2013, a fact that frees him from re-election pressures that have hampered long-needed reforms.

Unicredit economic analyst Chiara Corsa said the measures appear “sufficiently bold” to allow Italy to balance its budget by 2013,” even with recession looming.

“In turn this should allow Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio to enter a downward trajectory soon,” she said.

Italy’s debt of euro1.9 trillion, or 120 percent of GDP, is considered too big to bail out if the eurozone’s third-largest economy cannot continue to turn over its debt.

Monti’s measures come on top of euro59.8 billion in adjustments made by Silvio Berlusconi’s government, before he resigned after proving unable to take even more stringent, politically costly, steps

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Kellwood Co. is planning to drop Adam, the upscale contemporary sportswear line that it acquired last year, according to a news report.

Women’s Wear Daily reported today that the Town and Country-based apparel company has decided to no longer fund Adam and is exploring various options, including selling the business. Adam employees were told of the decision earlier today, according to the report.

Kellwood acquired Adam, the brainchild of designer Adam Lippes, in August 2010. It was one of the company’s first major acquisitions as it embarked upon a brand-buying spree. Lippes stayed on with the brand to oversee it. Terms of the deal were not disclosed at the time.

“Adam is the first one we’ve nailed, ” Michael Kramer, Kellwood’s chief executive at the time, told the Post-Dispatch. “Hopefully this is the first of many to come.”

Kellwood followed that acquisition with others such as Rebecca Taylor and Scotch & Soda. It has also launched some new in-house brands such as Lamb & Flag.

It’s not immediately clear what dropping Adam might mean about Kellwood’s recent focus on buying more luxury, designer brands. But Kramer, who was spearheading that strategy, has recently left Kellwood to become chief operating officer at J.C. Penney.

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Stocks are opening sharply higher after a strong start to the U.S. holiday shopping season and signs that Europe is getting its debt crisis under control.

Initial reports show a record number of shoppers hit the mall or bought gifts online over the holiday weekend.

Investors are also hoping that recent deterioration in Europe’s debt crisis will get the region’s leaders to agree on a package of measures that can ease market concerns over whether the euro currency itself can survive.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 274 points, or 2.4 percent, at 11,506 shortly after the opening bell Monday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 29, or 2.6 percent, at 1,188. The Nasdaq composite is up 70, or 2.9 percent, at 2,512.

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By the time the sun rose Friday morning, exhausted shoppers were dozing, slumped over in chairs at area malls, surrounded by shopping bags.

It was one sign that the midnight Black Friday sales were a hit with many deal-hungry consumers who took retailers up on their promotions and literally shopped until they dropped.

By 8 a.m. Friday, marathon shoppers and sisters Tina Hamilton of Bridgeton and Lisa Gray of Overland had already been shopping for about 10 hours. They started at Walmart around 10 p.m., then went to a Target opening at midnight, followed by Kmart at 5 a.m. and then to West County Center.

You have to have a strategy, Hamilton said. And, apparently, a lot of endurance.

“Your body is so broken down after cooking all day and then you stood in line to get a TV that didn’t go on sale until midnight,” Gray said.

There were few signs of consumer backlash to the midnight openings other than some shoppers who showed up later Friday morning because they said they were unhappy that stores made employees work on the holiday.

Black Friday, considered the start of the holiday shopping season, is closely watched by economists because of the important role retail sales play in fueling the economy.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak, a research firm. Black Friday made up about half of that no fax payday loans.

Greg Maloney, chief executive of retail for commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, said he thinks this will end up being an even better Black Friday than originally anticipated. He saw more customers leaving the stores with bags in hand this year. The relatively good weather around the country helped, too, he said.

“It’s a great start to the holidays,” he said. “If I had to predict, I would say next year you’ll see most if not all retailers opening up (Thanksgiving night) and staying open all night.”

Sean Phillips, regional marketing director for CBL & Associates, which operates many shopping malls in the region, said the midnight openings seemed to be a big success for those mall-based stores with special doorbuster deals such as Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath & Body Works.

“A lot of the stores I talked to this morning did think the midnight opening was going to help them meet or exceed their sales,” he said Friday afternoon. “They felt it brought in a lot of new sales.”

A record number of shoppers are expected this weekend. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected to shop, either online or in stores, an increase of about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

The midnight sales seemed to draw more of a younger crowd

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

The Egyptian Exchange’s EGX30 index was down 2.45 percent, or at 4,023 points, by 12:15 p.m. on the first day of the work week in the country. The slide built on a week of declines that have helped push the index’s year-to-date losses to almost 44 percent. The index had tumbled almost 3 percent earlier in the day, but recouped some of the losses.

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

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

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

“All things considered, this is a reasonable decline,” said Naga. “We were expecting worse _ maybe 5 percent.”

Shares of Commercial International Bank were down almost 2.2 percent to 23.22 Egyptian pounds while Orascom Construction Industries’ shares were off 3.24 percent to 220.2 Egyptian pounds.

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

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

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

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

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TORONTO

Yemeni government forces and allied tribesmen killed 10 militants in attacks around the country Sunday, security officials said, as a visiting United Nations envoy met with embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to push for a solution to the country’s political crisis.

Security has collapsed across the Arab world’s poorest nation during the nine-month popular uprising seeking to oust Saleh, who has been in power for 30 years.

Pro-Saleh forces regularly engage in deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and military defectors who support the protesters in Yemen’s largest cities, and al-Qaida-linked militants have taken control of entire towns in the country’s restive south.

Two of Sunday’s clashes took place near Zinjibar, the largest town overrun by al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen’s southern Abyan province, now partially recaptured by the army. In one clash, tribesmen allied with government forces exchanged fire with militants at a checkpoint, killing three, including two Somali citizens, an official said. In the other, the army shelled a militant position, killing five, including two Saudi citizens.

Months of violence have forced more than 100,000 residents of Zinjibar to flee to neighboring provinces, where some have sought refuge in schools.

In the Arhab region, north of the capital Sanaa, Yemeni forces shelled positions held by armed anti-government tribesmen, killing two, another security official said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Months of international diplomacy has failed to resolve the crisis. Saleh has refused numerous times to follow through on a U.S.-backed proposal crafted by Yemen’s powerful Gulf Arab neighbors, under which he would transfer power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

In Sanaa, U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar met Saleh Sunday to push for a transfer of power.

The U.N. said Benomar’s weeklong visit to Yemen was intended to encourage the Gulf-backed proposal, which the Security Council has endorsed.

A spokesman for the Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Al-Galil Waddah, told The Associated Press that about 400 people have been killed in protests that began in February. He estimated that the number of fighters and civilians killed in clashes in the south and Arhab region could be much higher.

Saleh’s critics accuse him of allowing the militants to take over cities in the south to support his argument that without him, al-Qaida would take control of the country.

“Saleh has used war and chaos to suppress the protests. He is trying to say that his presence is the only way for Yemen’s stability and so he allowed al-Qaida and fighters to run free in southern Yemen,” Waddah said.

He said the group’s office in Sanaa was taken over by security forces in mid-September and continues to be used as a rest house by soldiers, who also confiscated the group’s computers and files.

In those files, he said, the group documented dozens of cases of political prisoners alleging abuse at the hands of security forces in Sanaa and the country’s second largest city, Taiz.

Some of the prisoners are missing, while others who were released said they were beaten and threatened with rape. The abuse, according to Waddah, took place in government facilities as well as abandoned residential buildings.

Taiz, a hotbed of the opposition to Saleh, has been particularly violent recently, with government troops regularly clashing with soldiers who have defected to side with the protesters.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday tried to reassure U.S. soldiers, a group hit hard by high unemployment, that the Fed is working to strengthen the economy.

In a speech at a military base in El Paso, Texas, Bernanke told a group of soldiers and their families that the Fed is trying to lower unemployment. He talked about the Fed’s policies of keeping short-term rates near zero and buying securities to try and lower longer-term rates, such as mortgages.

Many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are returning home to find few jobs and limited prospects. The unemployment rate for veterans of those wars was 12.1 percent in October. That’s up from 10.6 percent a year ago and well above the national average of 9 percent.

“I’m here because the men and women in military service, like all Americans, are profoundly affected by the economic challenges our nation has faced these past several years,” Bernanke said during the speech at Fort Bliss, the country’s largest Army base.

The town hall meeting was the latest in a series of public outreach efforts Bernanke has made to underscore the efforts the central bank is pursuing to help ordinary Americans cope with the Great Recession. Over the past 2 1/2 years, Bernanke has attended half a dozen informal gatherings in Kansas City, Atlanta, Cleveland and other cities payday advances.

Thursday’s town hall meeting was his first in Texas. Fed officials say Bernanke chose the location because he wanted to highlight the base’s successful financial literacy program.

Last week, the Fed downgraded its economic outlook for the next two years and said that it does not expect the unemployment rate to fall significantly through the end of next year.

President Barack Obama is pushing for tax credits of up to $5,600 to businesses that hire a veteran who has been unemployed for six months or more. Another tax credit would provide $9,600 for companies that hire an injured vet who has been unemployed that long.

The Senate is expected to take up the tax credits as part of broader legislation. The tax incentives cleared the House last month and are not expected to be paid for through Obama’s proposed tax on millionaires, raising hopes that could win Republican support.

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NEW YORK

Ladue-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. was awarded a $7.5 million contract to renovate one level of the two-story, 32,069-square-foot Inpatient Rehabilitation Center at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. Preliminary phasing work has started, and main work on the renovations will start in January. Completion is scheduled for October 2012.

McCarthy will serve as construction manager and general contractor on the project. Renovations to the rehab center will include the addition of 36 private rehab inpatient rooms, a gym, dining and living space and support spaces. McCarthy will work with Omaha-based Altus Architectural Studio and Omaha-based Farris Engineering on the remodeling.