Colombia: several deaths and at least 28 missing in a landslide

Landslide in Colombia

AFP - Four people died and at least 28 people are missing following a landslide that buried ten homes in the Colombian city of Manizales (278 km west of Bogota), announced Saturday the Cross Red AFP. "We have a confirmed list of 28 people who were there" when the incident occurred, told AFP Jorge Zambrano, coordinator of the relief agency in Manizales, a city of about 350,000 inhabitants. According to an initial assessment in addition to these 28 missing at least four people were killed in the landslide, has announced the Red Cross.

The fire chief of the region, Carlos Marin, for his part told the press that at least 32 families were affected by the landslide and said five places where there might be the victims had been located. The man called on residents to be cautious, noting that the ground was unstable. The rainy season, which began in late September in Colombia, has killed more than forty people and left 250,000 homeless. Three other people also died Saturday after a mudslide on their house, not far from Calarca (Quindio department) in the west

Between April 2010 and April 2011, unusually heavy rains caused by the weather phenomenon La Nina, had killed over 400 people and left 3.6 million homeless. La Nina is a cyclical weather phenomenon that is characterized by lower average temperatures in the sea surface in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. Click here to find out more!

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The bestselling cars and trucks of 2011

Ford Escape

New car sales in October recovered from a summertime lull, fueled by pent-up demand for new models and a better selection of Japanese brand cars following last spring’s devastating earthquake. If the rebound continues, car makers will finish the year with their best sales since 2008.

Unlike in previous years, however, when import-brand vehicles dominated the list of best-selling cars in America, this year has seen a surge in popularity for domestic models. Six of the 10 most popular vehicles in America through October are made by General Motors, Ford Motor or Chrysler Group, compared to just three last year. Tumbling out of the Top 10 are the Honda Civic and CR-V, two perennial favorites whose sales have been hurt by natural disasters in Asia, and the Hyundai Sonata, which was nudged out by more popular vehicles from Ford and GM. Pushing their way into the Top 10 are the Ford Fusion and Escape, and GM’s new compact, the Chevrolet Cruze.

There’s no doubt the Detroit car companies benefited from the woes of their Japanese rivals. Toyota has been reeling for nearly two years — first because of quality recalls and then because of parts shortages caused by the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last March. While Toyota was struggling, Honda seemed adrift, offering uninspiring vehicles that failed to capitalize on the market opportunity. Then, it too was forced to suspend North American production because of supply chain issues following the earthquake. The disaster struck just as Honda was launching a redesigned Civic. Now it’s getting ready to launch a new CR-V, but that could be delayed because of parts shortages caused by monsoons in Thailand.

Stepping into the void, of course, were GM, Ford and Chrysler, with fuel-efficient vehicles that had improved quality and more appealing styling and features. GM’s Chevy Cruze is a good example. It hit the market in late 2010 with a starting price of $16,525 and has turned into a barn-burner for GM, selling more than 202,000 so far this year. It features 10 air bags, stability control and traction control, and gets 38 mpg on the highway with its optional 1.4-liter turbo-charged Ecotec engine. Sales of the Toyota Corolla, meanwhile, are down 11 percent so far this year. Toyota’s compact still outsells Cruze, but only by about 1,000 vehicles, and the Cruze could overtake Corolla by the end of the year to become the country’s best-selling compact car.

Likewise, the Ford Fusion mid-sized sedan and even the Escape utility vehicle, which is due for a makeover next year, have found a larger audience during the market turmoil.

The seasonally adjusted sales rate for October was 13.3 million vehicles, according to Autodata of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., with strong double-digit gains posted by Chrysler, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Ford Motor and General Motors saw more modest gains (6 percent and 2 percent, respectively). Toyota Motor’s sales fell 8 percent, while Honda’s dipped 0.5 percent.

Ford’s F-series pickups (No.1), and GM’s Chevrolet Silverado (No.2) are America’s sales champs, as they have been for years. The best-selling passenger car remains the Toyota Camry, although sales of this aging model are off 8.5% so far this year because of earthquake-related disruptions. A redesigned 2012 Camry just went on sale, which could help Toyota get back on track.

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Former '60 Minutes' commentator Andy Rooney dies

Andy Rooney

NEW YORK (AP) — Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old.

Even then, he said he wasn't retiring. Writers never retire. But his life after the end of "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney" was short: He died Friday night, according to CBS, only a month after delivering his 1,097th and final televised commentary.

Rooney had gone to the hospital for an undisclosed surgery, but major complications developed and he never recovered.

Rooney talked on "60 Minutes" about what was in the news, and his opinions occasionally got him in trouble. But he was just as likely to discuss the old clothes in his closet, why air travel had become unpleasant and why banks needed to have important sounding names.

He won one of his four Emmy Awards for a piece on whether there was a real Mrs. Smith who made Mrs. Smith's Pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.

"I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney once said. "And they say, 'Hey, yeah!' And they like that."

Looking for something new to punctuate its weekly broadcast, "60 Minutes" aired its first Rooney commentary on July 2, 1978. He complained about people who keep track of how many people die in car accidents on holiday weekends. In fact, he said, the Fourth of July is "one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace."

More than three decades later, he was railing about how unpleasant air travel had become. "Let's make a statement to the airlines just to get their attention," he said. "We'll pick a week next year and we'll all agree not to go anywhere for seven days."

In early 2009, as he was about to turn 90, Rooney looked ahead to President Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration with a look at past inaugurations. He told viewers that Calvin Coolidge's 1925 swearing-in was the first to be broadcast on radio, adding, "That may have been the most interesting thing Coolidge ever did."

"Words cannot adequately express Andy's contribution to the world of journalism and the impact he made — as a colleague and a friend — upon everybody at CBS," said Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. president and CEO.

Jeff Fager, CBS News chairman and "60 Minutes" executive producer, said "it's hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much."

For his final essay, Rooney said that he'd live a life luckier than most.

"I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.

He said he probably hadn't said anything on "60 Minutes" that most of his viewers didn't already know or hadn't thought. "That's what a writer does," he said. "A writer's job is to tell the truth."

True to his occasional crotchety nature, though, he complained about being famous or bothered by fans. His last wish from fans: If you see him in a restaurant, just let him eat his dinner.

Rooney was a freelance writer in 1949 when he encountered CBS radio star Arthur Godfrey in an elevator and — with the bluntness millions of people learned about later — told him his show could use better writing. Godfrey hired him and by 1953, when he moved to TV, Rooney was his only writer.

He wrote for CBS' Garry Moore during the early 1960s before settling into a partnership with Harry Reasoner at CBS News. Given a challenge to write on any topic, he wrote "An Essay on Doors" in 1964, and continued with contemplations on bridges, chairs and women.

"The best work I ever did," Rooney said. "But nobody knows I can do it or ever did it. Nobody knows that I'm a writer and producer. They think I'm this guy on television."

He became such a part of the culture that comic Joe Piscopo satirized Rooney's squeaky voice with the refrain, "Did you ever wonder ..." Rooney never started any of his essays that way. For many years, "60 Minutes" improbably was the most popular program on television and a dose of Rooney was what people came to expect for a knowing smile on the night before they had to go back to work.

Rooney left CBS in 1970 when it refused to air his angry essay about the Vietnam War. He went on TV for the first time, reading the essay on PBS and winning a Writers Guild of America award for it.

He returned to CBS three years later as a writer and producer of specials. Notable among them was the 1975 "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," whose lighthearted but serious look at government won him a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

His words sometimes landed Rooney in hot water. CBS suspended him for three months in 1990 for making racist remarks in an interview, which he denied. Rooney, who was arrested in Florida while in the Army in the 1940s for refusing to leave a seat among blacks on a bus, was hurt deeply by the charge of racism.

Gay rights groups were mad, during the AIDS epidemic, when Rooney mentioned homosexual unions in saying "many of the ills which kill us are self-induced." Indians protested when Rooney suggested Native Americans who made money from casinos weren't doing enough to help their own people.

The Associated Press learned the danger of getting on Rooney's cranky side. In 1996, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore wrote a column suggesting it was time for Rooney to retire. On Rooney's next "60 Minutes" appearance, he invited those who disagreed to make their opinions known. The AP switchboard was flooded by some 7,000 phone calls and countless postcards were sent to the AP mail room.

"Your piece made me mad," Rooney told Moore two years later. "One of my major shortcomings — I'm vindictive. I don't know why that is. Even in petty things in my life I tend to strike back. It's a lot more pleasurable a sensation than feeling threatened."He was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq after the George W. Bush administration launched it in 2002. After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, he said he was chastened by its quick fall but didn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.

"I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," Rooney said at the time.

Andrew Aitken Rooney was born on Jan. 14, 1919, in Albany, N.Y., and worked as a copy boy on the Albany Knickerbocker News while in high school. College at Colgate University was cut short by World War II, when Rooney worked for Stars and Stripes.

With another former Stars and Stripes staffer, Oram C. Hutton, Rooney wrote four books about the war. They included the 1947 book, "Their Conqueror's Peace: A Report to the American Stockholders," documenting offenses against the Germans by occupying forces.

Rooney and his wife, Marguerite, were married for 62 years before she died of heart failure in 2004. They had four children and lived in New York, with homes in Rowayton, Conn., and upstate New York. Daughter Emily Rooney is a former executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight." Brian was a longtime ABC News correspondent, Ellen a photographer and Martha Fishel is chief of the public service division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Sarkozy praised Obama covers a prime time

sarkozy-obama

AFP - U.S. President Barack Obama Friday highly praised his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and exalted "the long-standing friendship" between Washington and Paris, in an interview published crossover novel to prime time, newspapers the nightly TV TF1 and France 2. The two presidents were installed for the occasion in the municipality of Cannes, a city which hosted Thursday and Friday as a festival hall the G20 meeting, the annual forum of the twenty largest economies, this year phagocytosed by the debt crisis in the euro area including Greece. MM. Sarkozy and Obama attended the G20.

"Given the fact that we worked together, Nicolas and I have excellent relations, we have always had. This follows from the fact that we share responsibilities, we are fighting the same in a very difficult time," Obama said. He said: "Nicolas has always been an open partner, who works a lot with a lot of energy. Whether on economic issues, issues related to safety, it was an absolutely essential partner". The U.S. president also assured that "we could not have succeeded in Libya without the leadership of Nicolas and NATO, we would not be in a position so strong in Afghanistan without the leadership of Nicolas Sarkozy as well as other partners in our coalition. "

"Nicolas Sarkozy" is someone who has lots of energy, and someone who does not like losing, so it will give that power to any campaign possible, "he thought Obama about his counterpart which, in all probability should be a candidate to succeed himself in 2012. He did not, however, mentioned that he was himself a candidate for re-election, to one year in the U.S. presidential election of 2012 . The relationship between France and the United States goes "beyond the relationship between the two leaders" and "Americans have a huge respect for the longstanding friendship between our two countries," Obama said .

President Sarkozy is also full of praise to his U.S. counterpart, "a man can be convinced" and "a brave man." "The friendship between France and the United States is crucial but friendship is not only the good times," said Sarkozy. Mr Sarkozy has been particularly welcomed the fact that Obama is, he says, "the first president of the United States to take a step towards a taxation of financial players. I am grateful," he said.

Job creation slowed in the U.S., unemployment is falling

Unemployment

Job creation has slowed sharply in the United States in October, but this did not prevent the unemployment rate to fall slightly, according to official figures released Friday in Washington. The U.S. economy created more jobs than it destroys for the thirteenth consecutive month and the net hiring amounted to 80 000 positions. This is less than expected - economists had forecast 95,000 new jobs. Least as much that in September, where 156,000 people had been able to find an employer.

In October, the private sector that has most engaged with 104,000 new jobs. However, the public sector, it destroyed 24,000 jobs, as the strategic sector of the building and public works, he has lost 10,000 jobs, a third of those who were created in September. Unemployment is falling but is expected to RISING However, there was a slight decrease in unemployment in the United States. The rate decline from 9.1% to 9%, the lowest observed for six months, ie 14 million people.

This contradiction - fewer jobs and less unemployment, however - due to the calculation methods used by U.S. agencies. The unemployment rate is calculated from data provided by households and the number of jobs created is itself calculated from data supplied by companies. So a fall in unemployment in sham, that should not obscure the relative weakness of U.S. growth. The U.S. central bank (FED) Wednesday outlined its expectations: job creation will slow and unemployment rise again in the coming months. As for wages, they edged up 1.8% year on year. Problem, it is still well below inflation, which itself was up 3.6%. At the announcement of these figures contrast, Wall Street opened down.

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The World's Most Powerful: The 70 People Who Matter

The World's Most Powerful: The 70 People Who Matter

Obama become the first. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came second in this annual ranking, followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

President Barack Obama(No. 1) regained the top spot on Forbes' third annual ranking of "The 70 Most Powerful People In The World" (p. 99), having lost it last year to Chinese President Hu Jintao (No. 3). Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is No. 2, followed by Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (No. 4) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-chair Bill Gates (No. 5). Rounding out the Top 10 are Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud(No. 6), Pope Benedict XVI (No. 7), U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke (No. 8), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (No. 9) and UK Prime Minister David Cameron (No. 10).

Among the 14 newcomers to the list are Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (No. 14), OPEC President Rostam Ghasemi (No. 32), IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (No. 39), Apple CEO Tim Cook (No. 58), New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson (No. 64) and House Speaker John Boehner (No. 67).

Four factors were taken into account to select the 70 people that matter from the 7 billion people on the planet: how many people they have power over; the financial resources they control; if they have influence in more than one sphere; and how actively they wield their power to change the world. Case in point is Bill Gates, who is changing the world again, through vaccines. The issue's cover feature, "The Power To Save Lives" (p. 88),explores Gates' vaccine-based giving and plan to eradicate disease. He's saving millions of lives and helping to solve the global population problem.

Forbes asked an elite group of experts – including TED's Chris Anderson, Teach For America's Wendy Kopp, LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, among others – to each pick seven people who matter most to them. Among the ten people who fell off the list this year are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Julian Assange and Oprah Winfrey. For the full list, complete methodology and associated features, visit: www.forbes.com/power.

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VU - The FBI is playing videos of Russian spy Anna Chapman

Videos of Russian spy Anna Chapman

The FBI on Monday on its website videos, photos and documents from its investigation ten years in Anna Chapman, the glamorous Russian spy, and nine other officials expelled from Moscow in July 2010 by the United States. The first video shows the beautiful declassified spy, whose nude photos have been around the world, the table of a cafe in New York June 26, 2010 with an undercover U.S. agent. You can see the young redhead dressed in jeans and white T-shirt and wearing sunglasses, a bag out of his book and what appears to be headphones.

The other six videos show three Russian agents expelled with Anna Chapman. We see them exchange or retrieve objects and documents in the street in New York, in the bushes, in a café and a staircase with a Russian official, between May 2004 and March 2010. These eight videos have been published with hundreds of photos and documents related to this investigation a decade called "Ghost Stories". These arrests remind us that "espionage on American soil has not disappeared with the Cold War," the FBI on its website, commenting on the release of documents. "While the 'illegal' the SVR (Russian intelligence services abroad) have never got hold of classified documents, their intention was serious, extensive and funded by the SVR."

This group of ten spies had been arrested and pleaded guilty of espionage in June 2010. They were evicted two weeks later in an exchange worthy of the Cold War. The United States had given to the Moscow against four Russians, three convicted of spying for the West. On his return to Moscow, Anna Chapman chose to expose themselves in the media, contrary to the tradition of the secret services. In particular, posed scantily clad for a men's magazine and appeared in an issue of public television.

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Herman Cain, the candidate of "9-9-9" entangled in a sexual harassment case

Herman Cain

The candidate for the Republican primary, Herman Cain, is entangled in a sexual harassment case, since Monday. The man in the "9-9-9" is accused by the newspaper Politico have entered into settlement agreements in the 1990s with at least two women who accused him of sexual harassment. The pastor, married for forty years, was guilty of comments and gestures when he was moved to the head of the Employers' Association of restaurateurs in the United States.

The new darling of American surveys was initially denied, claiming to be the target of a "witch hunt". The former owner of a pizza chain has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in an interview to television channel Fox News. "I have never sexually harassed anyone," he has defended. This information is "totally false and baseless," he added.

FINALLY, IT IS WELL IN AGREEMENT 

Mr. Cain acknowledged, however, a little later, an agreement was reached out of court to cover-up. "If the restaurant association has an agreement, I was not aware and I hope it does not cost too much because nothing happened," he said, in referring to an investigation that would not show. Tuesday morning on CNN, Mr. Cain came more into the details of the agreement: "I do not remember the amount, but as and when negotiations with my lawyer, [counsel for the accuser ] realized that without a witness, his complaint did not take the road ".

The spectrum of a sex scandal may prove fatal to any candidate for the White House, Mr. Cain also assured that no other skeletons in the closet. "In forty-year career, there was a complaint of sexual harassment. One," he added. Asked whether it is a maneuver of a political rival, the candidate for the Republican nomination has done nothing to refute the insinuation. But he said he had "no idea" of the origin of these accusations.

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Emergency Declared At San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant

San Onofre nuclear generating station

An emergency was declared at the San Onofre nuclear generating station on Tuesday afternoon. The threat turned out to be an ammonia leak, not a a nuclear one, and officials say it does not pose any public danger.

At 3:10pm on Tuesday, the plant issued a level 3 alert, according to CBS2. According to the International Nuclear Events scale, this means that a "serious incident" had occurred. A level 3 incident could mean anything from nuclear exposure in excess of ten times the annual limit for workers to a misdelivered, highly radioactive sealed source.

Workers discovered the ammonia leak just before 3pm, reports NBC LA. Southern California Edison spokesman Steve Conroy told NBC LA that no nuclear material was released, and there is no danger to the public.


According to the Associated Press, Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said that today's alert was the lowest of the four possible emergency classifications used by the nuclear industry. Alexander didn't know the size of the ammonia leak, but it came from a unit in the power plant that generates electricity. It is separate from radioactive systems at the plant.

Besides the two aforementioned causes of a level 3 emergency, the International Atomic Energy Agency has more (PDF) on what the threat could mean:

    * Non-lethal deterministic health effect from radiation, like a burn.
    * A certain level of nuclear exposure in an operating area.
    * Severe nuclear contamination in an unexpected way, but with low probability of significant public exposure.
    * Near accident at a nuclear power plant with no safety provisions
    * Lost or stolen highly radioactive sealed source

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Threatened with death, a member of Rio de Janeiro Brazil leaves for Europe

A member of Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Exile in Europe - at the invitation of Amnesty International - a member of Rio de Janeiro threatened with death by the militias para-police movement causes outrage human rights and tarnished the image of the city, and two years of World Cup to be held in 2014. Marcelo Freixo, left-wing MP of 44 years and Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the militia in 2008, was invited "last week by Amnesty to leave Brazil to go to Europe in a country kept secret" after a new wave of threats, said Monday his spokeswoman Paula Mairan.

The Parliamentary Committee he chaired led to the indictment of 225 people, including politicians, police and military, and firefighters. "I received an invitation from Amnesty and because of numerous threats and pressure that this represents, I accepted the invitation," said the member of the site Monday of the group G1 Globo. "It is lamentable that elected member must leave the country. It's very bad for the Brazilian state, democracy and the image of Rio," said Gilson Cardoso, spokesman for the National Movement of Human man. Must continue its fight here in Brazil, it is a scandal that it should abandon its operations here. "

"THE MILITIA MAKE A LOT OF PEOPLE ELECT" 

On September 17, representatives of several political parties and social movements gathered in Rio to seek the protection of a document after Marcelo Freixo intelligence had revealed that he was the target of an attack. Long considered a "lesser evil" compared to the traffickers, militias are reminiscent of "death squads" who pursued and murdered opponents of the dictatorship (1964-1985), recently explained Marcelo Freixo. Today these militias displacing drug traffickers in the favelas where they impose their so-called population protection against a "security tax" and are as deadly as gangs of traffickers. Freixo says, the government of Rio "does not have the political will to fight the militias that have elected a lot of people."

In August, Judge Patricia Acioli, known to rigorously pursue the militia, was killed in an ambush in front of his home. The floor of Rio has since issued eighteen arrest warrants against a militia group co-led by a former city councilor of Rio. Mr. Freixo share in Europe Tuesday for "an indefinite period," said his spokeswoman, noting that it "was pre-candidate for the Socialist Party and freedom for mayor of Rio for the 2012 elections."

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Official end of the NATO operation in Libya

Fighter

This is the official end of "Operation Unified Protector". Seven months and 26,000 sorties later, the NATO mission ends this Monday, October 31. In a statement, the organization had welcomed last week a success "historic" and called the new plan to "build a new Libya" democratic.

"The board of the North Atlantic [the governing body of the alliance, extended to representatives of five non-member countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Jordan and Sweden - partners in the operation] confirmed the decision a week ago. The operation in Libya ends this Monday, October 31. Our military mission is now complete ", said Thursday the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

"We have completely filled the historic mandate of the United Nations to protect the people of Libya, to enforce a flight ban and an arms embargo," he added. The operation "Unified Protector" is "one of the most successful in the history of NATO," welcomed the Secretary-General, while believing that the victory was won by the Libyan people, who "can take her future in his hands firmly and safe, "Rasmussen noted. For the head of NATO, the Libyans, however, "much work to do to build a new Libya based on reconciliation, human rights and the rule of law."

THE FEARS CNT the remnants of Qaddafi

The National Transitional Council (CNT) had asked last week to maintain NATO in Libya at least "until the end of the year", ensuring that even after the death of his last loyal Muammar Gaddafi a threat for the country. These fears were reinforced by reports of South African newspaper Beeld that a group of South African mercenaries was still in Libya and attempted exfiltration Saif Al-Islam, son of Muammar Gaddafi.

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Occupy Wall Street arrests in Texas, Oregon

Wall Street

(Reuters) - Dozens of protesters at economic inequality demonstrations in Austin, Texas, and Portland, Oregon were arrested peacefully early on Sunday over allegedly failing to comply with rules in each city.

Both protests were among many held across the country since September by demonstrators who say they are angry over economic inequality and what they see as Wall Street greed.

At Occupy Austin, some 38 people were arrested on Saturday night and early Sunday after refusing to let police take down food tables and clean the City Hall plaza where they had camped for several weeks, police told Reuters on Sunday.

They were charged with criminal trespass and issued citations that mean they can't return to the protest site.

"We've had a very peaceful Occupy Austin, especially compared to the rest of the nation, but we do have rules that have to be enforced," said Austin Police Officer Dennis Farris.

Makeshift encampments sprouting up in cities nationwide have forced local officials to tread carefully between allowing peaceful assembly and addressing concerns about trespassing, noise, sanitation and safety.

In Portland, protesters' attempt to extend their occupation to a third city park in an upscale downtown neighborhood was broken up by police early Sunday morning.

Some 25 protesters were arrested on charges related to rules about use of the park.

"It was peaceful, methodical and business-like," said police spokesman Pete Simpson.

Protesters at the Nashville, Tennessee, Occupy encampment were spared a curfew check on Saturday night after more than 50 arrests last week over curfew violations. They were released after a court official said there were no grounds for charges.

Other weekend protests struggled against the elements.

In New York, a day after authorities confiscated their generators, hundreds of protesters struggled to stay warm and dry Saturday after more than an inch of snow fell in the city.

In Washington, demonstrators marched in sleet to the Treasury to urge higher taxes on the financial sector, beating a drum and chanting "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!"

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At least three deaths as snowstorm hits Northeast

Snow Storm in Newyork

 (Reuters) - A rare October snowstorm barreled up the East Coast on Saturday, cutting power to more than two million households, forcing cancellation of scores of airline flights and causing at least three deaths.

Slippery conditions on a roadway caused the crash and death of a man driving in Colchester, Connecticut, said Scott Devico, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management.

In Temple, Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-caked tree fell through his home, said a Muhlenberg Township Police Department dispatcher.

And a 20-year-old man was electrocuted in Springfield, Massachusetts when he stepped out of his vehicle and touched an electrified guard rail, a Springfield police spokesman said.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts declared weather emergencies because of the storm.

"We are expecting the snow to continue to fall from New York City through Maine. By tomorrow morning it should be pretty much wrapped up across most areas," said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Alan Reppert.

Snow was falling across most of Pennsylvania well into Massachusetts after blanketing parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland earlier in the day, Reppert said.

The unseasonably early storm broke a snow record that had stood since 1925 for New York's Central Park, AccuWeather.com said. New York City was expected to end up with three to six inches of snow from the storm.

"Are we allowed to curse?" said Philadelphia area resident Marjory Levitt. She had discovered that an expensive pair of boots were not waterproof when she ventured out to the supermarket.

Widespread power outages caused by snow, ice and falling trees were reported from the Mid-Atlantic into New England, leaving some two million customers in the dark.

Major delays were reported at Philadelphia International Airport and at New York area airports. At least 1,000 flights had been canceled and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey closed for a period of time, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com.

In Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy ordered non-emergency vehicles off the Wilbur Cross and Merritt Parkways due to dangerous driving conditions.

The snow posed traffic and parking problems for some 100,000 college football fans attending a game between Penn State and the University of Illinois in State College, Pennsylvania. Snow plows had to clear the field before the game.

In New York City, several hundred people camped in a park in the city's financial district to protest against economic inequality hunkered down in their tents from the wind, rain, sleet and snow.

They desperately tried to stay warm just a day after the fire department, citing safety hazards, confiscated generators that had been powering heat, computers and a kitchen.

For some, the big flakes and accumulation caused excitement, instead of headaches.

"There's almost like an electric buzz when the first snow falls," said Anna Weltz, communication director for Seven Springs Mountain Resort, located about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

By early afternoon, six inches of snow was already on the ground at the family ski resort, where phones were ringing off the hook with people asking about opening day.

"And it's still coming down," said Weltz. "What a sight."

The storm caused massive power outages including 606,388 customers reported by Connecticut Light and Power; 214,000 by PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania; 341,000 without power from PSE&G in New Jersey; more than 300,000 by First Energy in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; more than 77,000 by Con Edison in New York and more than 66,000 by Allegheny Power in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Another 205,890 customers of National Grid in Massachusetts and New York were without power and 17,467 customers reported by The United Illuminating Company in Connecticut.

"It's a strong storm for October," said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Paul Walker. "We don't usually see storms this deep and this strong."

While October snow is not unprecedented, this storm could be record-setting in terms of snow totals.

Cities along the East Coast including Boston and New York City, typically see their first measurable snowfalls late November into mid-December, according to The Weather Channel.

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The mystery of 53 dead in Sirte Mahari Hotel casts a new shadow on the CNT

Mystery of 53 dead in Sirte Mahari Hotel

Sirte (Libya) Special Envoy - What happened in the days before the fall of Sirte and the death of Colonel Qaddafi, Thursday, October 20th at the Hotel Mahari? When he returned home, the morning of Saturday, October 22, Faraj Mohammed, near the luxury hotel, found 53 bodies lying on the grass: all men, all shot dead. They were lying on the lawn that slopes gently toward the sea still dark spots indicate the locations where the bodies were. Half of the bodies had their hands tied behind his back and wore casts and bandages, indicating their status as prisoners or wounded. All appear to have been summarily executed judging wounds to the head or the neck. Who are they? Faraj Mohammed claims to have found four people, the people of Sirte, which Ezzeddine Al-Hencheri, former Minister of Gaddafi and Moftah Dabroun, an officer.

It is impossible to know with certainty the date of death without an autopsy in good standing. It dates back between 14 and 19 October, according to Peter Bouckaert, emergencies chief of the division to the NGO human rights Human Rights Watch. Mahari Hotel is located near the Quarter Number 2, where Colonel Gaddafi and the last four of his supporters were entrenched, resisting fiercely, almost all civilians who then fled the city. The rest is history. Gaddafi tried to flee on Thursday morning October 20, aboard a convoy halted by NATO. Captured by the revolutionaries, he died while being transported by ambulance to Misrata, the result of his injuries, provides the National Transitional Council (CNT), a summary execution, accusing his family. Moatassim his son, who was arrested the same day, was seen on an amateur video talking calmly with the rebels who held.

The Mahari, transformed into a place of detention by the forces of anti-Gaddafi, he witnessed a mass execution of prisoners pro-Qaddafi. The establishment was controlled by Misrata forces since the end of the first week of October, between 7 and 10. Several groups of thowar the revolutionary fighters, had made their base, as evidenced by the walls of the hotel covered with graffiti of different brigades Misrata. The Al-Nimr katiba (the tiger in Arabic) is the present, it is one of the most powerful of Misrata, which has 230. There were also present katibas Al-Fahad (the jaguar), Al-Assad (lion) and Al Qasba (the citadel).

Misrata fighters, drunk with anger at the atrocities committed during the five months of siege and shelling of their city, they would have wanted revenge. The commander of the Al-Nimr katiba denies any involvement. "The hotel has never been a place of detention. On the morning of October 20, we were attacked by Gaddafi and his forces. We had to leave the place. When we came back the next day the bodies were there." To him, they were probably killed by Gaddafi "which would prevent them from speaking." An explanation unconvincing, since the Libyan seemed especially concerned about his flight that morning. The head of the military council of Misrata, Ramadan Zarmouh, for his part said that Sirte is full of graves of revolutionary arrested or disappeared for months and calls into question the identity of victims of the hotel Mahari. "They are prisoners removed by Gaddafi before their departure," he says.

Detail worse, the staff of the hospital Ibn Sina Sirte ensures that a week before the fall of the city, the revolutionaries entered the school, locked in a room physicians, and toured the rooms to retrieve injuries alleged to have participated in the fighting to take them to an unknown destination. For fear of reprisals, no one is willing to testify openly or give a figure, even the Ukrainian pediatrician remained throughout the siege. Upstairs, the wounded also show evasive, some even refusing to disclose the nature of their injuries for fear of being identified as combatants. If this massacre is found, it will not be the first attributed to the rebels. The Gaddafi regime, he, has been used to a much more systematic and significant. Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch, the murders of the Mahari Hotel "require the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities," who must conduct a survey.

News by Lemonde

Google upgrades its Google TV

Google tv

AFP - Google Internet group said Friday the new generation of its television system connected to the Internet, Google TV, which led to various problems postpone the originally scheduled launch in Europe this year. The second generation of software for Google TV offers simplified controls, better integration with the YouTube video site and an option to add external applications. "This is another step on a road that will be long," said an official from Google TV, Chris Dale. "We are committed to the product and we improve."

Google is one of the companies that have bet the future, we watch movies and videos mainly via Internet connections. A year ago, the group launched its Google TV, loaded on Sony TVs and accessories Logitech: This is a system that works with Android's browser Chrome, with easy access to the Internet on their television, for example, to download movies, free or paid. However, Sony and Logitech had to cut prices in the face of disappointing sales, and delay the launch outside the United States. The system was considered too complex to appeal to the general public, which led Google to provide an update of the system supposed to make it more intuitive.

The devices will be equipped with Sony next week, those of Logitech "shortly after," said Google. Google told AFP that other electronics manufacturers were interested in integrating their system. Click here to find out more!

Obama urges Europeans to erect a "firewall" to contain the crisis

Barack Obama

AFP - U.S. President Barack Obama urges Europeans to implement their plan against the crisis of debt and to erect a "firewall" to prevent its contagion, in an article published in the Financial Times on Friday. "It is important to us all that this strategy is implemented successfully - including building a firewall that prevents credible crisis expanding, strengthening of European banks, the outline of a viable path for Greece and the resolution of structural problems in the heart of the current crisis, "Obama wrote in the British financial daily. The euro area has come to buckle pain Thursday morning at an anti-crisis plan intended to ensure its survival.
An agreement was reached with the banks covering a waiver of 50% of their claims, or 100 billion euros. In return for the effort required for the banking sector, an agreement was reached to recapitalize institutions in need.

In addition, European leaders have decided to leverage the power of their fire relief fund for countries in financial difficulty in bringing it to 1,000 billion euros in the first place. This envelope should prevent the debt crisis earns Italy and Spain. China is considering investing in this fund, although it warned earlier Friday she was waiting for clarification. Without explicitly naming the country, Obama is claiming in the forum "greater flexibility in exchange rates, including exchange rates that are based on the market." The United States regularly accuse China of manipulating its currency to boost exports.

United States: putting his hand on Ben Laden, Panetta won the 1870 wine

Leon Panetta

AFP - U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will celebrate the new year by enjoying a bottle of 1870 after winning a bet with a friend who put the challenge to hand over Osama bin Laden, officials said the pentagon.

Ted Balestreri, a restaurateur, had this bet with Mr. Panetta, while he was still director of the CIA, at the last New Year's Eve, they spent together in California. The challenge: a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1870. Four months later, the wife of Mr. Panetta, Sylvia, called the long-time friend and said, "Ted, you can fetch the corkscrew," she told Ted Balestreri in a local newspaper in California, the Monterey County Herald. The story was confirmed by unnamed sources at the Pentagon.

The leader of al-Qaeda was killed by an American commando in a house in Abbottabad May 2, north of Islamabad.

Romney leads in first four nominating states: poll

Romney

(Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leads his campaign rivals in the four states that kick off the 2012 Republican presidential race, according to CNN/Time/ORC polls released on Wednesday.

Barely more than two months before the first nominating contest, Romney has narrow leads in Iowa and South Carolina and double-digit advantages in New Hampshire and Florida.

Conservative businessman Herman Cain, who surged into the lead in some recent national polls but has faced heightened scrutiny in the past week, is in second place in each state.

A Romney sweep of the first four states to cast votes in the nominating race would put an early end to the battle to find a challenger to President Barack Obama in 2012.

But the polls also found there was plenty of room for more changes in the frequently shifting Republican race. Majorities in Iowa and South Carolina said they might change their minds about their votes, and about half in Florida and New Hampshire said the same.

The polls found Romney with a slight edge in Iowa of 3 percentage points, 24 percent to 21 percent, over Cain. His lead was even smaller, 25 percent to 23 percent, in South Carolina. Both leads were within the polls' margin of error of 5 percentage points.

Iowa and South Carolina have big blocs of conservative voters distrustful of Romney, who as governor of liberal Massachusetts supported abortion rights and a healthcare overhaul that was a precursor of Obama's federal law.

Romney has a big 27-point lead over Cain in New Hampshire, which borders Massachusetts and where Romney has a vacation home. He also has a comfortable 12-point lead, 30 percent to 18 percent, over Cain in Florida.

The polls were taken Thursday through Tuesday, following the most recent Republican debate last week.

Libertarian U.S. Representative Ron Paul was in third place in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. In Florida, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry were tied for third place.

Iowa kicks off the nominating race on January 3, followed by New Hampshire, which is expected to hold its primary on January 10, South Carolina on January 21 and Florida on January 31.

Romney's support was relatively broad across various political and demographic groups. He led easily among self-styled moderate or liberal Republicans, but also led among Tea Party fiscal conservatives in New Hampshire. He tied Cain among that group in Florida and was second behind Cain with Tea Party voters in Iowa and South Carolina.

YouTube close to announcing agreements to broadcast original programming.

YouTube

AFP - The online video site YouTube (Google Group) could announce next week agreements with various media and celebrities on the production of original programs broadcast it on "strings" theme, according to the Wall Street Journal. The daily quoted Wednesday among the partners expected the company Electus, a subsidiary of IAC internet, ShineReveille, owned by News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch and Fremantle (RTL) and the "skate legend" Tony Hawk and the creator of the series "CSI" ("CSI") Anthony Zuiker and others that broadcast their programs already on the site.

Google, which has not commented on this information, would build more than $ 100 million to turn YouTube into a new supplier of a variety of "channels" free broadcast-quality programs, financed by advertising. These channels are divided into twenty thematic categories, the kitchen, comedy or information, for example, and offer programs specifically tailored to the Web, rather than copied the model of television.

This comprehensive offering diversity of supply of YouTube, originally an exchange site amateur videos purchased by Google in 2006 to $ 1.65 billion, became owner of the spring-demand video. This activity is already the result of a collaboration between YouTube and many of the major Hollywood studios like Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. (Time Warner), Universal (GE and Comcast), Lionsgate and several independent studios.

DSK's lawyers asked a lot of documents at the Sofitel New York.

Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn

AFP - Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for a wealth of information at the Sofitel in the context of civil proceedings commenced in New York against the DSK maid Nafissatou Diallo. According to court documents released Wednesday, they assigned the Sofitel particular, for any account of any statements made could have done Nafissatou Diallo, written or oral, on the alleged assault. They claim all available information on inputs and outputs of the suite occupied by May 14 the former head of the IMF, the details of the schedule and assignments Diallo between January 1 and March 31, 2011, and "all documents which may refer to the alleged sexual assault."

They require any account made of all statements that could have been made by employees, customers or others in connection with Dominique Strauss-Kahn or the alleged sexual assault. The Sofitel must also provide details of telephone calls from room 2820, Mrs. Diallo had cleaned 14 May in which she would be returned after the alleged assault. The Sofitel has objected to some of these claims, arguing they were too vague, ambiguous, they were looking for information not relevant to civil proceedings, or inverse document already sent some back for more.

DSK's lawyers have given 20 days to run at the Sofitel, a delay also considered too short by the lawyers of the Sofitel. On September 26, Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for the classification of civil procedure initiated by Ms Diallo for damages. His lawyers argued that it enjoyed full immunity as head of the IMF at the time. This request has "no value", countered arguments Monday in a long Nafissatou Diallo's lawyers, saying that Mr. Strauss-Kahn could not invoke immunity.