Court date delayed for suspect in NYC bomb plot (AP)

NEW YORK ? A New York City man charged with making bombs and plotting to attack police stations and post offices won't be back in court until next month.

Jose Pimentel had been scheduled to learn Friday whether he'd been indicted, but the court date has been pushed back to Dec. 5. The postponement came as a new lawyer, Lori Cohen, was appointed for him.

Authorities say Pimentel was recorded building a pipe bomb and told a confidential informant his targets included government buildings.

He was represented initially by the Legal Aid Society. Then it emerged that Legal Aid had a conflict of interest because it represented the informant in an unrelated case.

A Legal Aid lawyer also had said Pimentel wanted another attorney. His previous lawyer has said Pimentel wasn't a true threat.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_us/us_nyc_bomb_plot

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Economy to suffer if tax cut, jobless aid end

WASHINGTON?? A tax cut that reaches 160 million Americans and government aid for the long-term unemployed will expire at the end of the year unless Congress takes action ? and suck $165 billion out of the economy next year.

Economists hoped the so-called congressional supercommittee would decide whether to extend both measures. But the committee couldn't even agree on how to reach its main goal, cutting $1.2 trillion from the federal budget deficit.

If the tax cut goes away, the average family would pay about $1,000 more in taxes next year, the equivalent of an extra tank of gas every two weeks. Someone earning $100,000 would pay $2,000 more.

And if long-term unemployment benefits are allowed to expire, about 6 million people would lose weekly checks averaging about $300. For most of the long-term unemployed, that is their main source of income.

"There's an awful lot of uncertainty ahead," said Michael Hanson, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Both changes would leave Americans with an estimated $165 billion less to spend. The Federal Reserve expects the economy to grow only 2.7 percent next year, and economists say the expiration of the two programs could reduce growth by a full percentage point.

The government said Tuesday that the economy grew at a 2 percent rate in July, August and September, down from earlier estimates of 2.5 percent.

To bring unemployment down significantly, the economy has to grow more than twice as fast as it grew this summer.

Congress could extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits when it returns from Thanksgiving recess next week. But the same partisan philosophical differences that sank the supercommittee could complicate the debate.

At the same time, Congress may be unwilling to force what is essentially a tax increase on tens of millions of Americans just as an election year begins.

Both measures were part of a deal struck in December 2010 by President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress.

The cut applies to the tax that pays for Social Security. The tax applies to the first $106,800 a person makes in a year. The deal lowered the rate paid by individuals to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent for this year. Companies also pay a 6.2 rate on their payroll.

Some Republicans have indicated they could support extending the tax cut, but there would almost certainly be a fight over how to pay for it. Without spending cuts or other tax increases, renewing the Social Security tax cut would swell the deficit.

Obama, as part of his jobs bill in September, Obama proposed lowering the rate further, to 3.1 percent, and cutting the employer portion to 3.1 percent up to the first $5 million on their payrolls.

Cuts at that level would pump almost $250 billion more into the economy compared with last year, when individuals and employers both paid the 6.2 percent rate.

Obama, speaking Tuesday in New Hampshire, urged Republicans to continue the tax break.

"Don't be a Grinch," the president said. "Don't vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays."

On Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney suggested that renewing or deepening the tax cut could be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy. Republicans have refused to consider doing so.

Most states provide up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. The deal extended benefits to up to 99 weeks in states with the highest unemployment rates.

Unless that is renewed, almost 2.2 million people out of work will lose benefits by the first week in February. About 6 million people would lose weekly benefits by the end of the year.

Just the uncertainty of not knowing what Congress will do could cause businesses to hold back on hiring and investment, and therefore drag down economic growth, Hanson said.

Most economists would like to see lower budget deficits, but most would like the government to reduce the deficit gradually, to avoid hurting the weak economy. And they would all prefer robust economic growth to solve the problem.

The supercommittee's failure triggers $1 trillion in automatic cuts in government spending beginning in 2013. Congress could undo them, but then credit rating agencies might downgrade the government's long-term debt, as Standard & Poor's did in August.

An even bigger hurdle looms at the end of 2012. That's when the tax cuts passed during the Bush administration are set to expire. Losing those tax cuts would cost taxpayers up to an additional $4 trillion over 10 years.

Combined, all those factors would reduce growth in 2013 by between 1.5 and 3.5 percentage points, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated last week.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45407943/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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International criticism of Egypt's rulers mounts (AP)

CAIRO ? International criticism of Egypt's military rulers mounted Wednesday as police clashed for a fifth day with protesters demanding the generals relinquish power immediately. A rights group raised the death toll for the wave of violence to at least 38.

The United Nations strongly condemned authorities for what it deemed an excessive use of force. Germany, one of Egypt's top trading partners, called for a quick transfer of power to a civilian government. The United States and the U.N. secretary general have already expressed their concern over the use of violence against mostly peaceful protesters.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, deplored the role of Egypt's security forces in attempting to suppress protesters.

"Some of the images coming out of Tahrir, including the brutal beating of already subdued protesters, are deeply shocking, as are the reports of unarmed protesters being shot in the head," Pillay said. "There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured."

She said the actions of the military and police are enflaming the situation, prompting more people to join the protests.

"The more they see fellow protesters being carted away in ambulances, the more determined and energized they become."

Clashes resumed for a fifth day despite a promise by the head of the ruling military council on Tuesday to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year, a concession swiftly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square. The military previously floated late next year or early 2013 as the likely date for the vote, the last step in the process of transferring power to a civilian government.

The clashes are the longest spate of uninterrupted violence since the 18-day uprising that toppled the former regime in February.

The standoff at Tahrir and in other major cities such as Alexandria and Assiut has deepened the country's economic and security crisis less than a week before the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi tried to defuse tensions with his address late Tuesday, but he did not set a date for handing authority to a civilian government.

The Tahrir crowd, along with protesters in a string of other cities, want Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian administration to run the nation's affairs until a new parliament and president are elected.

The government offered more concessions on Wednesday, ordering the release of 312 protesters detained over the past days and instructing civilian prosecutors to take over a probe the military started into the death of 27 people, mostly Christians, in a protest on Oct. 9. The army is accused of involvement in the killings.

The military also denied that its troops around Tahrir Square used tear gas or fired at protesters, an assertion that runs against numerous witness accounts that say troops deployed outside the Interior Ministry were firing tear gas at protesters.

Street battles have been heaviest around the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, located on a side street that leads to the iconic square that was the epicenter of the uprising earlier this year. Police are using tear gas and rubber bullets to keep the protesters from storming the ministry, a sprawling complex that has for long been associated with the hated police and Mubarak's former regime.

The protesters, who have withstood tear gas and beatings, say they do not want to storm the ministry but are trying to keep the police and army from moving on nearby Tahrir Square.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said a truce negotiated by Muslim clerics briefly held in the late afternoon, after both the protesters and the police pulled back from the front line street, scene of most of the fighting. State television, meanwhile, broadcast footage from the scene of the clashes showing army soldiers forming a human chain between the protesters and the police in a bid to stop the violence.

The truce was soon breached when police fired a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets and the protesters responded with rocks. It was not clear who resumed the fighting.

A short while earlier, tension was high in the area on the side streets leading to the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the police, with many young protesters vomiting and coughing incessantly from the tear gas fired by the police. Others wounded by rubber bullets were hurriedly ferried by motorcycle to field hospitals.

Elnadeem Center, an Egyptian rights group known for its careful research of victims of police violence, said late Tuesday that the number of protesters killed in clashes nationwide since Saturday is 38, three more than the Health Ministry's death toll, which went up to 35 on Wednesday. All but four of the deaths were in Cairo.

The clashes also have left at least 2,000 protesters wounded, mostly from gas inhalation or injuries caused by rubber bullets fired by the army and the police. The police deny using live ammunition.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday cited morgue officials as saying at least 20 people have been killed by live ammunition.

Shady el-Nagar, a doctor in one of Tahrir's field hospitals, said three bodies arrived in the facility on Wednesday. All three had bullet wounds.

"We don't know if these were caused by live ammunition or pellets because pellets can be deadly when fired from a short distance," he said.

The turmoil broke out just days before the start of staggered parliamentary elections on Nov. 28. The votes will take place over months and conclude in March.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest and best organized group, is not taking part in the ongoing protests in a move that is widely interpreted to be a reflection of its desire not to do anything that could derail the election, which it hopes win along with its allies.

Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, however, have defied the leadership and joined the crowds in the square. Their participation is not likely to influence the Brotherhood's leadership or narrow the rift between the Islamist group and the secular organizations behind the uprising that toppled Mubarak and which are behind the latest spate of protests.

Sixty years after it was banned, the Brotherhood found itself empowered in the wake of the Feb. 11 ouster of Mubarak. It moved swiftly after the overthrow of Mubarak to form its own party, Freedom and Justice, to contest the parliamentary election.

Notorious for its political opportunism, the Brotherhood and its allies are hoping to win enough seats in the next legislature to push through a new constitution with an Islamic slant and bring this mainly Muslim nation of some 85 million people closer to being an Islamic state.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, was said by a spokesman to be following events in Egypt "with great concern."

"In the new Egypt, which wants to be free and democratic, repression and the use of force against peaceful demonstrators can have no place," spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin. "The demonstrators' demands ... for a quick transition to a civilian government are understandable from the German government's point of view," he added.

___

Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

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The best way to market fine wine: Teach and learn or wine and dine?

Public release date: 22-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ashley Loar
ashley.loar@sagepub.com
805-410-7111
SAGE Publications

Los Angeles, CA (November 22, 2011)) According to new research, wine promoters may want to spend more money on brochures and flyers and less money on wine tastings as they market to novice wine drinkers. A recent study published in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (a SAGE journal) finds that without teaching about the background and process of wine production, new wine drinkers can be more easily influenced by advertising to make their purchases than their experienced counterparts.

Authors Kathryn A. LaTour, Michael S. LaTour, and Andrew H. Feinstein wrote that while the sensory approach used by most wine restaurateurs and marketers to promote expensive wines are beneficial for expert wine drinkers, new wine drinkers can be easily swayed by competing marketing material that can overwhelm their own personal preferences despite having tasted a different wine. To combat this problem, the authors suggest that wine producers combine the experience of tasting their wines with background material that guides the learning process in a creative way.

"As the consumers acquire experience in a product category, they acquire knowledge that allows them to categorize marketing communications (such as 'this does or does not describe the product')," the authors wrote. "That information can be used to strengthen their judgments and to shape their expectations for future product encounters."

The authors conducted two experiments in which they tested a total of 375 participants with varying levels of wine expertise. They concluded that novice wine consumers were able to create a stronger memory of their wine tasting experience if they better understood the background of the product.

"Additional learning steps for novices have to be taken even when the quality to the trained palate and nose is unmistakable," wrote the authors. "This is not to say that the 'mystery' and 'romance' for higher end wines is a thing of the past. To be swept off one's feet requires 'cultivation.'"

###

The article "The Effects of Perceptual and Conceptual Training on Novice Wine Drinkers' Development" in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly is available free for a limited time at: http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/09/30/1938965511420695.full.pdf+html

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CHQ), peer-reviewed and published quarterly, focuses on publishing scholarly research that provides timely and actionable prescription for hospitality management practice and research. Written by academics as well as industry leaders, the articles help readers keep up-to-date on the latest research findings and insights in order to improve business practices and to stay informed about successful business strategies. http://cqx.sagepub.com/ The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) is the leading source for quality research on and for the hospitality industry. It creates new knowledge and shares that knowledge to power hospitality forward. At roundtables and other meetings, Hotel School faculty, corporate partners, and other industry leaders collaborate to frame timely issues and understand important topics. http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 22-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ashley Loar
ashley.loar@sagepub.com
805-410-7111
SAGE Publications

Los Angeles, CA (November 22, 2011)) According to new research, wine promoters may want to spend more money on brochures and flyers and less money on wine tastings as they market to novice wine drinkers. A recent study published in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (a SAGE journal) finds that without teaching about the background and process of wine production, new wine drinkers can be more easily influenced by advertising to make their purchases than their experienced counterparts.

Authors Kathryn A. LaTour, Michael S. LaTour, and Andrew H. Feinstein wrote that while the sensory approach used by most wine restaurateurs and marketers to promote expensive wines are beneficial for expert wine drinkers, new wine drinkers can be easily swayed by competing marketing material that can overwhelm their own personal preferences despite having tasted a different wine. To combat this problem, the authors suggest that wine producers combine the experience of tasting their wines with background material that guides the learning process in a creative way.

"As the consumers acquire experience in a product category, they acquire knowledge that allows them to categorize marketing communications (such as 'this does or does not describe the product')," the authors wrote. "That information can be used to strengthen their judgments and to shape their expectations for future product encounters."

The authors conducted two experiments in which they tested a total of 375 participants with varying levels of wine expertise. They concluded that novice wine consumers were able to create a stronger memory of their wine tasting experience if they better understood the background of the product.

"Additional learning steps for novices have to be taken even when the quality to the trained palate and nose is unmistakable," wrote the authors. "This is not to say that the 'mystery' and 'romance' for higher end wines is a thing of the past. To be swept off one's feet requires 'cultivation.'"

###

The article "The Effects of Perceptual and Conceptual Training on Novice Wine Drinkers' Development" in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly is available free for a limited time at: http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/09/30/1938965511420695.full.pdf+html

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CHQ), peer-reviewed and published quarterly, focuses on publishing scholarly research that provides timely and actionable prescription for hospitality management practice and research. Written by academics as well as industry leaders, the articles help readers keep up-to-date on the latest research findings and insights in order to improve business practices and to stay informed about successful business strategies. http://cqx.sagepub.com/ The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) is the leading source for quality research on and for the hospitality industry. It creates new knowledge and shares that knowledge to power hospitality forward. At roundtables and other meetings, Hotel School faculty, corporate partners, and other industry leaders collaborate to frame timely issues and understand important topics. http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/sp-tbw112211.php

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Summary Box: Growth downgrade pushes stocks down (AP)

THE S&P 500: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5 points to 1,188. It was the fifth straight decline for the S&P 500, the longest losing streak since August.

SLOWER GROWTH: Investors were disappointed that the Commerce Department downgraded its estimate of third-quarter economic growth in the U.S. to 2 percent from its previous estimate of 2.5 percent.

DEBT WORRIES: The S&P has lost 5.5 percent over the past week on worries that Spain could get dragged into Europe's debt crisis and as Congress neared a deadlock over cutting the U.S. budget deficit.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wall_street_summary_box

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Iran rejects UN condemnation of rights record (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? A top Iranian official is rejecting a U.N. resolution condemning his country's human rights record.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of Iran's Human Rights Council, told the U.N. General Assembly on Monday the charges outlined in the resolution were "totally preposterous."

Sponsored by Canada, the resolution was approved 86-32, with 59 abstentions.

The resolution expresses concern over recurring human rights violations in Iran, including torture, amputations and the frequent use of the death penalty.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_re_us/un_un_iran

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Pressure for fast action after Spain election (Reuters)

MADRID (Reuters) ? Spain's next prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, kept his silence Monday on his plans to rescue the country from economic disaster despite pressure from anxious Spaniards and impatient investors following his election triumph.

The landslide victory of his conservative People's Party's at the polls Sunday failed to lift markets, who fear Spain could go the way of other euro zone members in having to resort to an international bail-out.

Angry voters punished the outgoing Socialists for a crisis that has pushed unemployment in Spain to more than 20 percent, the highest in the European Union.

But with Rajoy not due to take office until December, markets are desperate for details on his strategy.

The spread between yields on Spanish government bonds and safe haven German bunds widened by more than 20 basis points to around 470 Monday. Ten-year yields were higher, hitting 6.58 percent and creeping closer to the perilous 7 percent level that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek bailouts.

"The need for immediate action from the new government is pressing, with Spain's bond yields at punishingly high levels," IHS Global Insight economist Raj Badiani said in a research note.

Spain's second recession in two years is looming. Funcas research foundation cut its growth outlook for next year to a negative 0.5 percent from a positive 1.0 percent, citing the effect of government spending cuts to meet deficit targets.

Ordinary Spaniards also worried about just how hard promised austerity measures would hit them.

"I think there will be people in the street when they see what they are going to do," said Jose Antonio Garcia, a 28-year-old left-wing voter.

CHANGES

Rajoy, a 56-year-old former Interior Minister, has indicated he plans labor market and a financial reforms as well as sweeping changes in the public sector, but in the election campaign gave no clear policy lines, relying instead on the Socialists' failings to propel him into power.

Since his victory he has only said that there will be no miracles to fix the crisis.

"The fact that investors have to wait another month for Mr Rajoy's cabinet to take the reins only adds to the uncertainty," said Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy.

However, Jaime Garcia Legaz, an economist at the PP's think-tank, said he expected Rajoy would announce "shock measures" before the formal handover.

Miguel Arias Canete, who is tipped for a cabinet post, hinted that Rajoy's team could coordinate with the outgoing Socialists to avoid a hiatus.

"When a legal system like the Spanish one allows for such a long transition period of a month and there is huge global financial and economic instability, you need to bypass the strictly legal requirements and coordinate very closely over the measures which need to be taken," he said.

PROTESTS?

Spaniards are resigned to a battery of reforms to resuscitate the economy that could make things worse before they get better and at least initially increase unemployment, with 5 million people already out of work.

The PP won the biggest majority for any party in three decades, taking 186 seats in the 350-seat lower house.

But small leftist parties also enjoyed a premium from the Socialist rout, with many voters turning to them rather than the conservatives, who they fear will slash Spain's treasured national health and education systems.

Earlier this year tens of thousands of people dubbed "Indignados" (Indignants) occupied town squares across the country in demonstrations against their social and economic plight.

The rallies dropped off before the election but anger may well boil over again when Rajoy's measures become clear.

"The result is outstanding for the right... but it also reflects huge discontent. I think they will do what they like in parliament but people will be out on the street," said Madrid taxi driver Tomas Ruiz, 29.

The Socialists slumped to 111 seats from 169 in the outgoing parliament, their worst showing in 30 years. Voters blamed the Socialists for reacting too late to a collapsed housing boom which has left the nation sliding toward its second recession in two years.

It was the fifth euro zone government to be toppled this year by a debt crisis that now seems out of the control of vulnerable individual countries, with Spain following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Italy.

Peter Goves, interest rate strategist at Citi, said the real solution to the euro zone crisis lay outside Spain.

"The wider systemic issues will have to solved at a euro zone head level," he said, echoing a widely held view.

The Spanish Treasury heads back to the markets with debt auctions Tuesday and Thursday this week, the first key tests of confidence in Rajoy's leadership.

Economic gloom dominated the election campaign, with more than 40 percent of young Spaniards unable to find work and a million people at risk of losing their homes to the banks.

When the Socialists took power in 2004 Spain was riding a construction boom fueled by cheap interest rates, infrastructure projects and foreign demand for vacation homes on the country's sunny coastlines.

But the government, consumers and companies were engulfed in debt when the building sector collapsed in 2007, leaving the landscape dotted with vacant housing developments, empty airports and underused highways.

Many Spaniards saw no reason for joy just because of the election result.

Oscar Ortega, a 38-year-old building concierge, said: "I want to believe that they are going to help us but it seems to me to be a shame to celebrate a victory in the situation we are in. I don't know what those people in the street last night were celebrating. Let's do that when we have a solution."

(Additional reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary, Paul Day, Tomas Cobos, Emma Pinedo, Judy MacInnes; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/wl_nm/us_spain_election

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