My World Earth News

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Terrorists Attack at Russian Train 26 dead 100 injured.Bom derail train at 130kmph.

Lucky: Passengers, one of them injured, walk along the track away from the derailment site

One of the carriages flipped over by the bomb. An officer from the Interior Ministry keeps watch at the site of explosion

Toll: At least 39 people were killed when the train left the tracks. Another 18 were still missing this morning

Bleak: The crash sparked terrorism fears after a 3ft crater was found at the site

Shock: Villagers pass the crash site in Russia's Novgorod region

Mangled: A Russian police officer guards a damaged coach

Wreckage: Investigators inspect the crushed train after it derailed near Uglovka, 400km north-east of Mos

Investigation: Workers inspect the damaged railway carriage

A powerful homemade bomb sent a high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train careening off its tracks, according to Russian officials, killing at least 26 people in what officials consider an act of terrorism.

The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said that experts found pieces of an explosive device that detonated around 9:30 Friday night as the train raced over it, gouging a 5ft crater and strewing smoking wreckage over a rural stretch of track.

He said a terrorism inquiry had been opened.
As many as 100 people were left injured by the disaster, officials said, and 18 remained missing Saturday night.

'Indeed, this was a terrorist attack,' said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the investigative committee of Russia's General Prosecutor's Office, according to Interfax. Bortnikov said the bomb exploded with a force equivalent to 15lb of TNT.

The attack on the Nevsky Express, a luxury train popular with government officials, tourists and business executives, was Russia's deadliest terrorist strike outside the volatile North Caucasus region since 2004.

Among the dead were citizens of Belgium, Italy and Azerbaijan.

The force of the derailment scattered battered carriages over a remote stretch of track, trapping some of the injured for hours. By first light Saturday, luggage and pieces of metal lay in the muddy embankment in the drizzle, as survivors huddled under blankets by fires.

A second explosive device partially detonated at the crash site later Saturday as railway workers tried to clear the debris, said Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin.

The initial blast derailed the last three carriages of the 14-car Nevsky Express as it approached speeds of 130 mph), officials said. More than 650 passengers and crew were aboard at the time.

The crash occurred near the border of the Novgorod and Tver provinces, some 250 miles north-west of Moscow and 150 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of St. Petersburg.

As rescue workers searched for victims, officials provided sometimes conflicting numbers for the dead and injured.

Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said at least 26 people were killed, 18 were missing and nearly 100 injured in the derailment. The Prosecutor General's office said the death toll had risen to 30, with 60 others in the hospital.

As of Saturday evening, there were no credible claims of responsibility. But sketches were being composed of several suspects, Interior Ministry chief Rashid Nurgaliyev told Interfax, including of a man of about 40 with red hair.

Witnesses said the train left the tracks after a loud explosion.

It was immensely scary. I think it was an act of terrorism because there was a bang,' passenger Vitaly Rafikov told the state-run Channel One television network. He said he helped haul victims from the battered carriages and lit fires to keep them warm.

Passenger Igor Pechnikov was in the second of the train's three derailed cars. "A trembling began, and the carriage jolted violently to the left. I flew half way down the car," he said.

The injured were transported to hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg by bus, train and even helicopters, but some said the evacuation was agonizingly slow.

Yekaterina Ivanova, a wounded passenger, told the NTV television network that workers took at least four hours to free her from the wreck.

'In the hospital, the doctors are better, the medical teams are working in harmony," she said. 'The young people from the Ministry of Emergency Situations carried us out on stretchers, but other people in uniform were just standing there and staring, and no one was even helping to carry out the wounded.'

Russia has been hit by a number of major terrorist attacks since the 1991 Soviet collapse, including the seizures of the Dubrovka theatre in October 2002 and the taking of more than 1,000 hostages in Beslan's School Number One in September 2004.

Both were staged by Muslim separatists from Russia's North Caucasus, who also claimed responsibility for the bombings of the Moscow subway, a rock concert and two airliners.

The number of terrorist attacks declined along with the scale of fighting in the North Caucasus after about 2005, as the Kremlin consolidated control of the region.

But over the past year, the Caucasus has seen a surge in violence, including an increase in suicide bombings, assassinations and attacks by militants against police and government officials.

At the same time, rights activists say, government security services in the region have stepped up the use of kidnappings, extrajudicial killings and home-burnings against suspected militants and their relatives. The Moscow-based rights group Memorial issued a report this month accusing authorities of implementing 'a policy of state terror'.

While Russians have grown accustomed to hearing about mayhem along their southern border, the attack on the Nevsky Express appeared to strike a nerve, inspiring massive coverage by state-run and other media.

President Dmitry Medvedev called yesterday for calm. 'We need there to be no chaos, because the situation is tense as it is,' he said.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told APTN that Islamist separatists who operate in the North Caucasus and nationalist groups would naturally fall under suspicion.

One prominent nationalist group, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, issued a denial of responsibility Saturday.

Nationalists were blamed in a similar blast that caused a derailment along the same line in 2007, injuring 27 passengers. Authorities arrested two suspects in the 2007 train blast and are searching for a third - a former military officer.
The number of terrorist attacks declined along with the scale of fighting in the North Caucasus after about 2005, as the Kremlin consolidated control of the region.

But over the past year, the Caucasus has seen a surge in violence, including an increase in suicide bombings, assassinations and attacks by militants against police and government officials.

At the same time, rights activists say, government security services in the region have stepped up the use of kidnappings, extrajudicial killings and home-burnings against suspected militants and their relatives. The Moscow-based rights group Memorial issued a report this month accusing authorities of implementing 'a policy of state terror'.

While Russians have grown accustomed to hearing about mayhem along their southern border, the attack on the Nevsky Express appeared to strike a nerve, inspiring massive coverage by state-run and other media.

President Dmitry Medvedev called yesterday for calm. 'We need there to be no chaos, because the situation is tense as it is,' he said.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told APTN that Islamist separatists who operate in the North Caucasus and nationalist groups would naturally fall under suspicion.

One prominent nationalist group, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, issued a denial of responsibility Saturday.

Nationalists were blamed in a similar blast that caused a derailment along the same line in 2007, injuring 27 passengers. Authorities arrested two suspects in the 2007 train blast and are searching for a third - a former military officer.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231595/Train-crash-killed-39-caused-7kg-bomb-says-Russian-security-service.html#ixzz0YJntEtTq

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Friday, November 27, 2009

Shocking moments when mentally crazy man jump into bear compound .Bitten alive almost dead until police shot bear.Bear ok man ok.

Paramedics move into the enclosure to rescue the injured man

Finn, lying tranquillised under medical observation in his enclosure in Bern

The unidentified man is said to be doing well after the brutal bear attack

Finn is photographed wandering off after leaving his prey seriously injured.As Finn the bear metal teeth jaw sinks into Finn flesh , the police has no choice but to shot the bear to save a human.

Finn can be seen almost playing with his victim before he is finally taken down by a police marksman

The man perched at the wall for almost ten minute and then let go into the cage compounds.

A man hangs in the jaws of a bear, seemingly about to endure a most horrendous death by being ripped apart by massive jaws and razor-sharp claws.

But in the end it was the bear who ended up fighting for his life - shot with a police bullet in order to save the man's life.

These dramatic photographs were taken by a visitor to the Berne Bear Park, Switzerland, at the weekend when European brown bear Finn, aged four, suddenly realised he had an uninvited human guest - said yesterday to be mentally handicapped - in his enclosure.

That allowed worried park officials time to call police.

They arrived, armed with 9mm 'fragmentation' ammunition which splinters on impact, just seconds before the man jumped down into the danger zone.

The bear quickly grabbed him.

Finn picked up the intruder as if he were a rag doll, carting him to the other side of his enclosure, which opened last month.

And as his massive jaws and teeth - capable of crushing steel - sank into his prey, police had to act fast. They were left with no option but to open fire, they said.

Finn was hit with a single bullet to the chest.

Police, ambulancemen and zoo-keepers rushed in.

The man, who has not been named, was quickly taken away on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

He was treated in hospital for severe head and leg injuries, and his condition yesterday was said to be comfortable.
Finn meanwhile was treated at the bear park by vets who decided not to operate to remove the bullet splinters, treating him with antibiotics, to which he was said to be responding well.

Bears are special for the people of Berne, being the city's symbol since the Middle Ages.

Briton Sam Brookes, who was visiting the park with his girlfriend when the attack happened, said: 'I looked in after I heard people screaming.

'The bear was standing over him and throwing him back and forth.

'Some yelled, "Get stones" to throw at the bear. I think most people had an awful shock. I can still see it when I close my eyes.'

Police and zoo officials say there has been an outpouring of public sympathy - for the bear.

Bouquets of flowers and pots of honey have been placed outside his enclosure.
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Tareq Salahi and Michaele Salahi alleged uninvited and not in guest list yet entered into high prolife dinner party in White House for PM India.

This screen image made from Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows a photo of Michaele Salahi, second right, with three Marines during arrivals at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said

This screen image made from Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows a photo of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, left, with Michaele Salahi and Tareq Salahi, right, at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said.

This screen image made from Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows a photo of, Tareq Salahi, left, Vice President Joe Biden and Michaele Salahi, right, at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said.

The Secret Service may begin a criminal investigation against the Virginia couple who crashed a high-profile White House dinner, an agency spokesman said Friday.

Jim Mackin said the possible turn toward criminal charges is one reason the Secret Service has kept mum about what happened when Michaele and Tareq Salahi arrived at the security checkpoint Tuesday. They were not on the guest list for the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Nobody disputes that the two, candidates for a reality TV show, were allowed through security. The Secret Service acknowledges that its procedures weren't followed.

Still unknown is the story that the uninvited guests spun to the security officers that persuaded them to allow the couple through. That likely would play a role in any criminal charges.

"As this moves closer to a criminal investigation there's less that we can say," Mackin said. "I don't want to jeopardize what could be a criminal investigation. We're not leaving any option off the table at this point."

It was not immediately clear what charges would be pursued. The Salahis lawyer, Paul Gardner, posted a comment on their Facebook page saying, "My clients were cleared by the White House, to be there."

He said more information would be forthcoming.

Attempts to reach Gardner on Friday were not immediately successful.

Michaele Salahi's hairdresser at the Georgetown salon where she scheduled a last-minute appointment hours before the dinner said she asked to look at the invitation to the White House event, but never saw it.

"She was so excited. She told me that she got it in the mail and it was just an amazing feeling and they couldn't wait and in fact they called the White House, I believe, to make sure that she was going to be dressed appropriately," Peggy Ioakim told CBS' "The Early Show" on Friday. Salahi wore a red sari to the dinner.

Bravo Media, meanwhile, confirmed that on the day of the dinner Michaele Salahi was being filmed around Washington and while she prepared for the dinner by a film crew connected with the network's reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C.," because she is being considered for the upcoming TV program.

"Half Yard's cameras were not inside the White House. They filmed the couple preparing for the event," Johanna Fuentes, Bravo Media's vice president, communications, said in an e-mail late Thursday. She said the Salahis "informed Half Yard that they were invited (to the dinner), the producers had no reason to believe otherwise."

Fuentes referred further questions to the Virginia couple's lawyer and their publicist.

The White House refused comment on the Salahis and referred all calls to the Secret Service.

Ronald Kessler, author of a book on the Secret Service, said, "While the couple did pass through a magnetometer to detect weapons, they could have assassinated the president or vice president using other means — anthrax, for example." He added the Secret Service would not detect secreted biological weapons.

Kessler, a journalist, wrote "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect."

The author added that it's unlikely the Secret Service performed the usual background check to ensure that the crashers were not possible threats.

"The party crashers could have had outstanding arrest warrants for murder. They could have been involved with terrorists. They could have been agents of Iran or North Korea. The Secret Service would never have known," he said.

During President George W. Bush's administration, it was standard procedure to have someone from the White House social office at the gate for state dinners and other events with large groups of visitors, according to a former senior Bush aide who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be seen as criticizing the Obama White House.

The social office is most knowledgeable about the guest list and could have been called in case of any uncertainty, this official said.

White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, asked by The Associated Press on Thursday whether personnel from her office were at the checkpoint said, "We were not."

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Iran faces consequences of refusal to end Nuclear issues with US as world deliberate what to with Iran.-Rejects IAEA resolution as politically plot

Iran's covert uranium enrichment plant

Iran on Friday rejected a resolution by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a "politically motivated" move and refused to stop its nuclear activities.

The resolution against Iran was passed "with insistence and political ambitions of certain member states," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the English-language satellite channel Press TV.

"We think that this is politically motivated and only aimed at exerting more pressure on Iran," he added.

Mehmanparast warned that Iran would not be obliged to continue its cooperation with the IAEA "at the maximum level" if some member states "want to take a political path in dealing with Iran's nuclear case by exerting pressure on the IAEA and consequently depriving us of our basic rights."

"As a member of the agency, we will limit our cooperation with the IAEA to legally mandated minimum," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA Ali Soltanieh lashed out at the UN nuclear watchdog's latest resolution against the country and said Iran would not stop its uranium enrichment program.

"The answer to the resolution is definitely 'no'. We are not going to suspend our enrichment activities. We are not going to suspend the completion of the Fordo nuclear enrichment activities," Soltanieh was quoted by Press TV as saying in Vienna.

He said that Iran will continue its cooperation with the IAEA and all of Iran's nuclear activities will be carried out within the framework of the comprehensive safeguards of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors during a meeting Friday in Vienna called for the "full cooperation" of Iran to clarify all outstanding issues involving its nuclear program.

It was reported that the resolution contained a strong call on Tehran to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, as well as all the transparency measures the IAEA needed to restore confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

It also required Iran to stop construction on the newly-disclosed Fordo uranium enrichment facility near the central Iranian city of Qom.

The move was the IAEA's first adoption of a resolution against Iran after one adopted in February 2006. The 35-member Board of Governors of IAEA passed the resolution with 25 yes votes, 3 votes by Cuba, Venezuela and Malaysia against, six abstentions and one absence.

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Dubai debt fears remain focus in world markets-US, Emerging Market Stocks Slide as Bonds Advance on Dubai

Dubai will soon have the world's tallest building

The Atlantis launched last year with a party rumoured to cost $20m

New York Stock Exchange traders- As market drop 5%.

The Dubai skyline

A money trader work at a dealing room the U.S. dollar rate against Japanese yen on the Foreign Exchange Market in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The U.S. dollar fell to the 84 yen level Friday Morning.

A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 301.72 points, or 3.2 percent, to 9,081.52.

A man who shines shoes works in front of screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and foreign currency rate, right, at the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The KOSPI fell 75.17 points, or 4.70 percent, to close at 1,524.35 Friday.

A woman using mobile phone walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average lost -169.73 points, to end morning session at 9213.51.

A man communicates with a phone in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average lost -169.73 points, to end morning session at 9213.51

A money trader walks past a screen indicating the U.S. dollar rate against Japanese yen at the Foreign Exchange brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009.

A man looks at the electronic foreign exchange board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The U.S. dollar fell to the 84 yen level Friday Morning.

A South Korean currency trader reacts in front of a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The KOSPI fell 75.17 points, or 4.70 percent, to close at 1,524.35 Friday.

Banks outside the Gulf played down their exposure to Dubai debt on Friday after fears of default shook global markets, and European leaders said the world economy was now strong enough to cope with the setback.

Stocks from Tokyo to New York were haunted by concern that banks were exposed to state companies in Dubai, whose rise from a desert backwater into the business hub of the world's top oil exporting area lured expatriate cash and executives.

The crisis began on Wednesday when Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates federation, asked to delay payment on billions of dollars of debt issued by conglomerate Dubai World and its main property subsidiary Nakheel, developer of three palm shaped islands that once attracted celebrities and the super-rich.

"While it is a setback, I think we will find it is not on the scale of previous problems we have dealt with," British Prime Minister Brown told reporters in Port of Spain.

"The world financial system is stronger now and able to deal with the problems that arise."

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the Gulf had the resources to ensure the world would not sink into a second round of turmoil, but Russian premier Vladimir Putin said the saga showed how hard it is to shake off a crisis that has lasted two years.

Dubai World had $59 billion of liabilities as of August, most of Dubai's total debt of $80 billion. International banks' exposure related to Dubai World could reach $12 billion in syndicated and bilateral loans, banking sources told Thomson Reuters LPC.

But the numbers pale in comparison to the $2.8 trillion in writedowns the International Monetary Fund estimates U.S. and European lenders will have made between 2007 and 2010.

"The events in Dubai in recent days are one of the hiccups if you like, one of the difficulties, which affirms that we were right to highlight the uncertainty ahead of us and that the road ahead could be a bumpy one," European Central Bank Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said.

Analysts expect Dubai to receive financial support from Abu Dhabi, though it may have to abandon an economic model focused on developing swathes of desert with foreign money and labour.

But the prospect of a bailout did little to allay concerns among investors, already worried the global economy may not be recovering quickly enough to justify a near doubling of prices for emerging market stocks and many commodities since March.

Wall Street, which was closed on Thursday for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, opened sharply lower on Friday over fears of renewed financial turmoil. Banks with Gulf investors were badly hit, with Citigroup (C.N) down over 3 percent. [ID:nN27341479]

"Dubai is deeply connected with the global community and people are worried about a domino effect with other points of the financial system," said Kevin Caron, U.S.-based market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

BANK EXPOSURE

European and Asian banks scrambled to distance themselves from problems in the Gulf trade and tourism hub, helping European stocks reverse earlier losses and hit session highs as the market reassessed the significance of Dubai's problems.[.EU]

"We have seen a classic risk aversion reaction in the markets over the past 24 hours. The dollar has slumped, the yen is stronger," a Societe Generale note said. "At this stage, this setback looks to be one that is very much country specific."

Lenders in Abu Dhabi, a fellow member of the UAE and home to most of its oil, have lent heavily to Dubai and could suffer.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ADCB.AD has at least 8-9 billion dirhams ($2.2-$2.5 billion) exposure to Dubai World and related entities, forcing the bank to book more provisions, a senior executive of the bank said. First Gulf Bank FGB.AD has at least 5 billion dirhams ($1.4 billion).

JP Morgan said it was less concerned about global banks' direct exposure to Dubai World and was not worried about Abu Dhabi, which is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars.

"We are more concerned about the spillover effect within the UAE," it said in a note. "It remains unclear if the Dubai government will support the liabilities of government related entities."

The price of insuring Gulf debt surged again on Friday.

Credit default swaps (CDS) for Dubai rose more than 100 basis points but were well below previous peaks in the global crisis late last year and earlier this.

Nakheel's Islamic bond prices extended losses, falling 30 points to a record low of 40, according to Reuters data.

The debt crisis in Dubai also pushed up debt insurance costs for other sovereigns in the Gulf, a wealthy region Western firms had turned to for help at the height of the credit crunch, and at some major U.S. banks.

TRANSPARENCY, CREDIBILITY

International fund managers said they were considering rotating dedicated money out of Dubai and into Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Egypt after local markets begin to open on Monday after the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

Analysts said the timing of the news on the eve of the holiday, the lack of prior communication with investors, and the scant details given on the plans dented Dubai's credibility.

"The way the announcement was made, including its timing has caused damage to Dubai's credibility," Ghanem Nuseibah, senior analyst at Political Capital Policy Research & Consulting Institute. "This will take a very long time to repair."

UAE media either ignored or put a positive spin on the news. Abu Dhabi-based financial daily Alrroya Aleqtissadiya carried the headline "European markets overreact to Dubai's bond news".

But HSBC (HSBA.L), Europe's biggest bank and the one with more loan exposure to the UAE than any other at around $15.9 billion, said it was not concerned.

"It's... a high potential part of HSBC's international business mix and a region we are completely committed to," Michael Geoghegan, HSBC CEO, said.

"I am confident that the leadership of Dubai and the UAE will overcome any short-term issues they face, which appear to have been somewhat sensationalised."

World Economy concerns about Dubai debts remains.

European stock markets regained their poise Friday after Wall Street didn't fall as much as feared on the news earlier this week that Dubai is having trouble handling its debt.

Because U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, they are only reacting now to the fears that Dubai's debt problems may affect the wider financial system.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 41.30 points, or 0.8 percent, at 5,235.43 while Germany's DAX rose 50 points, or 0.9 percent, at 5,669.84. The CAC-40 in France was 36.85 points, or 1 percent, higher at 3,716.08.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 162.71 points, or 1.6 percent, at 10,301.69 soon after the open while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 19.33 points, or 1.7 percent, at 1,091.30.

Though hefty, the losses in the U.S. paled in comparison to those posted earlier in Asia, when indexes in Hong Kong and South Korea tumbled 5 percent in response to the previous day's Dubai-related losses in Europe.

Confidence about the world economy has been hit hard by the news that Dubai World, a government investment company with around $60 billion worth of debt, has asked creditors if it can postpone forthcoming payments until May. Investors are wondering whether the current uncertainty surrounding the emirate has brought the eight-month equities bull run to an end.

Analysts said more clarity about the long-term impact of Dubai's troubles would likely emerge next week, when Wall Street is back to normal trading hours following the Thanksgiving Day holiday. U.S. markets are only open for half the day Friday.

"It is likely to take at least a few days before the implications of the impact of a possible default from Dubai are properly digested but for the present it seems that the market is seeing this negative news as a blow to the global recovery but not one that will push it off course," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.

Investors were also keeping a close eye on associated developments in the currency markets after the dollar slid to a new 14-year low of 84.81 yen.

However, the dollar climbed back off its lows to 86.74 yen amid mounting expectations that the Bank of Japan may intervene in the markets by buying dollars or selling yen after Japan's finance minister Hirohisa Fujii said he was "extremely nervous" about the movements in the yen and that the "market had moved too far in one direction."

On Thursday, the Swiss National Bank reportedly intervened to buy dollars to prevent the export-sapping appreciation of the Swiss franc. That seems to have worked — for now, at least — as the dollar has moved back above parity, trading 0.9 percent higher at 1.0118 Swiss francs.

The British pound has also been battered amid fears about the exposure of Britain's banks to the region. The pound was down nearly one percent earlier but recovered some ground to be trading only 0.3 percent lower at $1.6475.

Another currency struggling somewhat in the current climate was the euro, which fell 0.5 percent to $1.4943 — in times of uncertainty the dollar is considered to be more of a safe haven currency. Investors are also concerned about the exposure of European banks to Dubai.

Earlier, Asian stocks were particularly badly hit as they played catch-up following the big losses in Europe in the previous session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 1,075.91 points, or 4.8 percent, lower at 21,134.50, while South Korea's benchmark plummeted 4.7 percent to 1,524.50.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell 3.2 percent to 9,081.52 while Australia's index dropped 2.9 percent. China's main Shanghai stock measure was off 2.4 percent.

Indexes in emerging markets have so far avoided a second day of heavy losses, with Russia and Brazil down about 1 percent.

Oil, meanwhile, tracked developments in stock markets and benchmark crude for January delivery fell $3.30 to $74.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Shoppers pack stores as holiday season revs up

Toys "R" Us employee Ray Singer stacks 100 Zhu Zhu Pets on a table before Black Friday holiday shopper are allowed inside Toys "R" Us in Camp Hill, Pa., late Thursday, Nov. 26

About 600 shoppers are lined up at a Little Rock, Ark., Old Navy store Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. The nation's retailers are ushering in the traditional start of the holiday shopping season with expanded hours and deep discounts

Black Friday holiday shoppers James Trichler, left, and Ashley Trichler second from left, both of New Cumberland, Pa., wait in line in the rain at Toys "R" Us in Camp Hill, Pa., late Thursday night, Nov. 26, 2009. The store opens their doors at midnight.

Shoppers crowded stores and malls in the wee hours Friday, some after spending the night waiting in line, to grab early morning deals and hard-to-find items.

The nation's retailers expanded their hours and offered deep discounts on everything from toys to TVs in hopes of getting consumers, many of whom are worried about high unemployment and tight credit, to open their wallets.

A number of stores, including Walmart and many Old Navy locations, opened on Thanksgiving, hoping to make the most of the extra hours. Toys R Us opened most of its stores just after midnight Friday.

But worries about jobs clearly were on top of shoppers' minds as they focused on big bargains on TVs and practical gifts. Many shoppers said Friday they plan to spend less this year than they did last year.

At a Best Buy in suburban Cincinnati, store officials said some people starting camping out with tents at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The store started handing out tickets for big items, like laptop computers and televisions, around 4 a.m. Friday.

Robin Fryman, 47, of Mount Orab, Ohio, said she and her daughter, a friend and her husband got out at 6:30 a.m. for deals at Best Buy. Her hours as a food worker were recently cut from 40 to 25 per week.

"I've definitely cut down. You have to cut down, because you have to eat," Fryman said. "It's definitely made a difference in the way I'm shopping."

She said she usually shops on Black Friday, but got out earlier this year to find a camera for her daughter. They bought a $300 Nikon camera for $172. Other than that, she's focusing mostly on practical items like clothing.

At the Walmart store in Valley Stream, N.Y., where a security guard was trampled to death in a Black Friday stampede last year, heavy turnout filled the store to capacity, leading to a snaking line hundreds of people deep around 4 a.m. The store was letting shoppers a few at a time as other shoppers left amid a heavy security presence.

The store's sales brought many shoppers out for the first time, among them Sheirra Henderson of Queens, N.Y. She was there for $7 Nintendo Wii games and a netbook as gifts for her kids.

"We're in a recession, so I figured we'd be able to save more money," she said.

Most of the Walmart stores were open on Thanksgiving to prevent the mad dash for the 5 a.m. opening.

At Macy's flagship store in New York, which opened at 5 a.m., dozens of women were rummaging through a bin of purses marked 40 percent off the original price. Jean Howard, from Cork, Ireland, said she planned to buy for her three children and spend the same this year, regardless of the weak economy.

"We have a recession back home in Ireland, as well, but our list is still the same," Howard said. "We don't get depressed when we're shopping!"

Howard's shopping list also included tracksuits and Timberland clothing.

After suffering the worst sales decline in several decades last holiday season, the good news is that the retail industry is heading into the Christmas selling period armed with lean inventories and more practical goods on their shelves that reflect shoppers' new psyche.

Still, with unemployment at 10.2 percent, many analysts expect that total holiday sales will be at best about even from a year ago.

Optimism rose in early fall as shoppers spent a little more, but stores say they've seen a sales slowdown since Halloween, putting merchants more on edge.

The promotional blitz typical for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season has high stakes for retailers who've suffered through a year of sales declines. It's also important for the broader economy, which could use a kickstart from consumer spending.

Black Friday gets its name because it traditionally was the day when huge crowds would push stores into "the black," or profitability. But the weekend doesn't provide a forecast for the rest of the season, which accounts for as much as 40 percent of annual sales and profits for many stores.

Still, retailers closely study buying patterns for the Thanksgiving weekend to gauge shoppers' mindset — what kinds of items they're buying, what deals are luring them.

Stores need to perform well for the traditional start because chances are slim they'll be able to make up for lost sales for the rest of the season.

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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Scandal brewing as Lord Mandelson , Cherie and host billionaire financier Lord Rothschild invite Qaddafi son to shot out at mansion. Released Lockierb

Judgment: Peter Mandelson

Party venue: The Rothschild family's French chateau-style Waddesdon Manor

Keen shot: Saif Gaddafi, Host: Nat Rothschild and Guest: Cherie Blair

Lord Mandelson has infuriated families of the Lockerbie bombing victims by attending a shooting party with Colonel Gaddafi's son.

The Business Secretary and Saif Gaddafi were guests of billionaire financier Lord Rothschild and his son Nat at the family mansion in Buckinghamshire.

In a bizarre confirmation of Labour's close links to the Libyan regime, Cherie Blair was also present.

The gathering came after the controversial release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi, who was flown home by Saif Gaddafi to a hero's welcome in August.

Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was released from a Scottish jail after being given just three months to live.

His continued survival, however, more than three months later has renewed claims that his release was cynically engineered to placate the Gaddafi regime and protect lucrative oil contracts with Tripoli.

Details of the shooting party at Lord Rothschild's French chateau-style Waddesdon Manor estate, near Aylesbury, are revealed today by Spectator magazine columnist Charles Moore.

He writes: 'A shoot was taking place, though not all the party were shooting. As well as Lord Rothschild and his son Nat, the unofficial deputy prime minister, Lord Mandelson, was there, and also Lord Rothschild's country neighbour, Cherie Blair.

'Neither of them picked up a gun.

Various young friends of Nat with double-barrelled or European princely names were shooting. But the keenest shot was Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator.'

The revelations raised new questions over Lord Mandelson's judgment, three months after he dined with Saif Gaddafi at Lord Rothschild's estate in Corfu just days before Megrahi's release was announced.

Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am 103 said: 'I don't think it's appropriate at all but I can't say I am very surprised.

'The release of Megrahi was an incredible victory for Libya and Saif Gaddafi engineered the whole thing to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Libyan revolution.

The British government and the Scottish government fell into that trap.'

He accused senior ministers of feathering the nests of British businesses. Lord Mandelson was an outspoken supporter of closer trade links with Libya during his time as EU Trade Commissioner.

'Gaddafi was openly boasting that there was a commercial component and that the oil companies were involved in the deal,' Mr Duggan said. 'My belief is that Megrahi was never as sick as they said he was.'

Tory MP Greg Hands said: 'This extraordinary revelation, if true, raises serious questions for Peter Mandelson. Once again he is mixing up his private associations and his

'For years, he has been at the centre of Britain's relationship with Libya. People will question why the First Secretary thinks it is appropriate to enjoy country house weekends with the man who escorted Megrahi home to a hero's welcome in Libya.'
public duties.

The sight of the deputy prime minister in all but name and Mrs Blair, newly hob-nobbing with a band of billionaires and the Gaddafi family, also has the potential to undermine Labour's charge that David Cameron's Tories are the party of toffs.

Lord Mandelson's spokesman issued a brief statement implying that he was rather more embarrassed about being exposed attending a game shoot - wildly unpopular with Labour MPs - than he was about his relations with the regime behind the Lockerbie atrocity.

He said: 'We do not offer a running commentary on Peter Mandelson's social engagements but we can confirm he's never taken part in a pheasant shoot and never will.'

A source close to the Business Secretary confirmed he has no shame about spending time with the Libyan dictator's son.

'Peter always said he'd be happy to meet Saif Gaddafi again.' Mrs Blair's presence is also curious since she would not be considered a natural at a pheasant shoot.

Mrs Blair is an outspoken opponent of blood sports and is widely credited with persuading her husband Tony to bow to pressure from Labour backbenchers to ban hunting with dogs.

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