Berlusconi promises to resign amid Italy debt woes

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusoni, left, smiles to Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna upon his arrival at the lower chamber on the occasion of a voting session in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi promised Tuesday to resign after parliament passes economic reforms demanded by the European Union, capping a two-decade political career that has ended with Italy on the brink of being swept into Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusoni, left, smiles to Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna upon his arrival at the lower chamber on the occasion of a voting session in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi promised Tuesday to resign after parliament passes economic reforms demanded by the European Union, capping a two-decade political career that has ended with Italy on the brink of being swept into Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi attends a voting session at the Lower Chamber, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi won a much-watched vote Tuesday, but the result laid bare his lack of support in Parliament as financial pressure from the eurozone debt crisis pummeled Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi aatends a voting session at the Lower Chamber, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi won a much-watched vote Tuesday, but the result laid bare his lack of support in Parliament as financial pressure from the eurozone debt crisis pummeled Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi holds a note he wrote during Democratic party leader Pierluigi Bersani's speech, the note reads: "308, -8 traitors; Government upturn; Vote; Take note; Resignation; Italian President; One solution; Let's move", prior to the start of a voting session at the Lower Chamber, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi won a much-watched vote Tuesday, but the result laid bare his lack of support in Parliament as financial pressure from the eurozone debt crisis pummeled Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, left, holds the hand of Reforms Minister Umberto Bossi during a voting session at the Lower Chamber, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi won a much-watched vote Tuesday, but the result laid bare his lack of support in Parliament as financial pressure from the eurozone debt crisis pummeled Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP) ? Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi conceded Tuesday he no longer had the support to govern and announced he would resign like his Greek counterpart, becoming the biggest political casualty yet of the European debt crisis.

Berlusconi promised to leave office after Parliament passes economic reforms demanded by the European Union to keep Italy from sinking into Europe's debt mess. He came to the decision hours after a vote on a routine piece of legislation made it clear he no longer commanded a majority in the lower Chamber of Deputies.

A vote on the reform measures is planned for next week, giving Berlusconi a few more days before his turbulent 17 years in public life ? and a political era in Italy ? draw to a close. Over the years, Italy's political establishment watched as the media mogul survived sex scandals and corruption charges while branding his opponents communists, traitors and terrorists.

Both Italy and Greece are under heavy pressure to reassure financial markets that the 17-country eurozone is moving quickly to reduce crippling government debts before they break apart the monetary union and plunge the world into a new recession.

In Greece, a government official said a new Greek interim government will be announced on Wednesday afternoon, after critical power-sharing talks between the country's two main parties dragged into a third day despite intense European pressure.

The two have agreed the new government will shepherd the country's new euro130 billion ($179 billion) European rescue package through Parliament and end a political crisis that threatened Greece's solvency and membership in the eurozone. Papandreou, the son and grandson of Greek prime ministers, will not lead it.

Wealthier European countries including Germany and France have already bailed out Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and Greece will get an additional euro100 billion ($138 billion) of debt relief as soon as it resolves its political crisis.

But as the eurozone's third-largest economy, Italy, with debts of around euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), is considered far too big for Europe to bail out, putting even greater pressure on the country's leaders to reassure markets that Italy is willing and able to get its financial house in order.

Italy's borrowing rates spiked Tuesday to their highest level since the euro was established in 1999. The yield on Italy's 10-year bonds was up 0.24 percentage point at 6.77 percent. A rate of over 7 percent is considered unsustainable and proved to be the trigger point that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland into accepting bailouts.

The usually defiant Berlusconi acknowedged he no longer has a parliamentary majority and said he will step aside for the good of the country.

"The markets don't believe that Italy is capable or has the intention of approving these reforms," he told his private Mediaset television. He added: "Things like who leads or who doesn't lead the government" are less important than doing "what is best for the country."

His resignation may not be enough. Political analyst Sergio Romano, in a front-page column in Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, warned that unless a clear program emerges in a post-Berlusconi era "the foreign observers will reach the conclusion that the end of the Berlusconi goverenment does not necessarily mean the advent of a more credible, trustworthy government."

Italy accounts for 17 percent of the eurozone's gross domestic product. But a substantial part of its debt needs to be rolled over in coming months and years ? the nation needs to raise euro300 billion ($412 billion) in 2012 alone ? just as interest rates have been soaring.

Berlusconi last week took the humiliating step of asking the International Monetary Fund to monitor the country's reform efforts in a bid to reassure markets. On Wednesday, a separate European Union monitoring mission is to begin work in Rome to review measures taken so far.

The EU's questionnaire, put to Italy ahead of the mission, said additional measures will be needed beyond what Italy has pledged to do to balance the budget by 2013, according to the text shown on Italian television.

Once Berlusconi resigns, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano will begin political consultations to form a new government. The most widely discussed name to lead a government is Mario Monti, the former EU competition commissioner.

The developments capped a convulsive day in the markets and in Parliament. In a routine lower-house budget vote that became a test of Berlusconi's support, the prime minister garnered 308 votes of approval and none against. But 321 deputies abstained, a tactic that laid bare Berlusconi's shrinking hold.

Berlusconi's margin was eight shy of the 316 votes he needs to claim an overall majority in the 630-member chamber.

"This government does not have the majority!" thundered opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani. "If you have a crumb of sense in front of Italy, give your resignation!"

As Bersani spoke, Berlusconi scribbled his options on a piece of paper. An AP photo showed he wrote "resignation" and also "eight traitors," an apparent reference to former allies who had abstained.

Business leaders once enthusiastically backed the media mogul's leadership, but now some say his government has failed to revive Italy's stalled economy.

"The country cannot stay in these conditions," said Emma Marcegaglia, who leads an influential Italian business lobby.

Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk analysis at IHS Global Insight, said Berlusconi's resignation would bring a short relief rally to the markets.

"But Italy will not be out of the heat of bond markets until a solid and stable government actually implements austerity and undertakes reforms with strong credible leadership," Randolph said.

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Colleen Barry in Milan, Frances D'Emilio in Rome and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-08-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-bc1d061035884023aefc36f7c730b8d2

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India PM calls for new chapter in Pak relations

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that India and rival Pakistan needed to stop wasting time trading barbs and open a new chapter in their relationship.

Singh's comments came amid signs of warming ties between the two nuclear armed nations, which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain.

The two nations decided earlier this year to restart wide-ranging peace talks. Last month, Pakistan quickly returned an Indian helicopter and its crew that had strayed across the tense border, and last week Pakistan announced it would normalize trade with India.

Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met for about an hour Thursday on the sidelines of a South Asia regional summit to further discuss how to ease tensions between their nations.

Singh praised Gilani as a man of peace and said the two neighbors needed to understand that their destinies are interlinked.

"The time has come to write a new chapter in the history of our relationship," he said, standing beside Gilani.

In their meeting, Singh and Gilani discussed the dicey issues of border disagreements, terrorism, trade and the divided territory of Kashmir, Gilani said.

Saying the two sides had a "unique opportunity," Singh said he expected the next round of talks to be productive and bring the countries closer than they have ever been. No dates for the new talks were announced.

The two countries have deep animosity for each other, but many in India see the simmering tensions ? and the huge military costs they demand ? as a drag on the country's economic ambitions. Singh has long pushed for peace talks, but the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai by Pakistan-based terrorists froze those efforts.

The two sides agreed to resume the talks earlier this year after their foreign secretaries met on the sidelines of another international summit.

U.S. government officials also have been encouraging talks among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as a way to bring stability to the troubled region.

But there is little expectation of a quick deal, which would require significant compromise by both sides and could threaten the stability of Gilani's shaky government.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar reflected that caution, saying Wednesday, "We have many, many long miles to move ahead still."

The SAARC grouping is holding 17th meeting in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldives. The group comprises India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45235549/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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Paterno news conference canceled amid scandal (AP)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Penn State's president abruptly canceled Joe Paterno's weekly news conference Tuesday amid increasing calls for both men to resign in the wake of a former assistant coach's sex-abuse scandal and as another potential victim came forward.

The news conference was to be the first chance for reporters to ask Paterno about what he knew about Jerry Sandusky, his former defensive coordinator and one-time heir apparent, who was indicted on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.

"Due to the ongoing legal circumstances centered around the recent allegations and charges, we have determined that today's press conference cannot be held and will not be rescheduled," assistant Athletic Director Jeff Nelson said in a statement.

Paterno's son Scott told The Associated Press that the decision was made by President Graham Spanier's office. Scott said that his father was disappointed and was prepared to take questions about the scandal as well as the upcoming game against Nebraska.

Authorities have said that Paterno, who testified in the grand jury proceedings that led to the charges, is not a target of the investigation. But the state police commissioner has chastised him and other school officials for not doing enough to try to stop the suspected abuse.

Meanwhile, another potential victim has contacted authorities.

The man, now an adult, contacted the department on Sunday after seeing media accounts of Sandusky's arrest, Lt. David Young at the Montoursville station said. Investigators took a statement from him and forwarded it to the Rockview station for officers there to pursue, Young said.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, which first reported that the man had come forward, said he is in his 20s, knew Sandusky from The Second Mile charity and had never told his parents or authorities about the alleged encounters from about a decade ago.

Young declined to release the man's name or provide details about what he claims occurred.

The Patriot-News published a rare full, front-page editorial calling for this season to be Paterno's last and for Spanier to resign immediately.

"There are the obligations we all have to uphold the law. There are then the obligations we all have to do what is right," the editorial board wrote about Spanier's role in the sex abuse scandal, along with Paterno's.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in an editorial, also called on Paterno and Spanier to both resign.

A person familiar with Sandusky's relationship with Penn State told The Associated Press that the former coach long maintained an office in the East Area Locker building which is across the street from the Penn State football team's building, and was on campus as recently as week ago working out.

The university's online directory listed Sandusky ? whom Penn State officials said banned from campus over the weekend ? as an assistant professor emeritus of physical education in the Lasch building.

The grand jury investigating Sandusky found that he was given the office, a parking pass and other amenities as part of his 1999 retirement package.

Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Monday in Harrisburg that Paterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he relayed to university administrators that a graduate assistant had seen Sandusky attacking a young boy in the team's locker room shower in 2002. But the commissioner also questioned whether Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more.

"Somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child," Noonan said.

"I think you have the moral responsibility, anyone. Not whether you're a football coach or a university president or the guy sweeping the building. I think you have a moral responsibility to call us."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111108/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_abuse

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Cybersecurity workforce framework issued for public comment

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) ? The National Initiative on Cybersecurity Education (NICE) has published for public comment a draft document that classifies the typical duties and skill requirements of cybersecurity workers. The document is meant to define professional requirements in cybersecurity, much as other professions, such as medicine and law, have done.

NICE is an interagency effort coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and focused on cybersecurity awareness, education, training and professional development. NICE activities include increasing cybersecurity awareness for children and adults of all ages, promoting community college and university-level programs in cybersecurity, and expanding professional training opportunities.

The new document, the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, was created by the NICE group responsible for creating and maintaining a highly skilled workforce to meet the nation's computer security needs. Over 20 participating agencies contributed to the group's efforts.

"One thing NICE has found is that there has not been a consistent way to define or describe cybersecurity work across the federal workforce," says NICE Lead Ernest McDuffie. Cybersecurity professionals previously have not fit into the standard occupations, job titles, position descriptions and the federal job classification and job grading system managed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Not having a common language to discuss and understand the work and skill requirements hinders federal employers in setting basic requirements, identifying skill gaps and providing training and professional development opportunities for their workforce. "Other professions have organized their specialties, and now it is time for a common set of definitions for the cybersecurity workforce," said McDuffie.

The NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework provides a working taxonomy, or vocabulary, that is designed to fit into any organization's existing occupational structure. The framework is based on information gathered from federal agencies through two years of surveys and workshops by OPM, a major Department of Defense study of the cybersecurity workforce and a study by the Federal CIO Council.

In opening the draft document up for public comment, NICE hopes to refine the framework so that it can be useful in both the public and private sectors to better protect the nation from escalating cybersecurity threats. Authors also want the framework to address emerging work requirements to help ensure the nation has the skills to meet them. The authors are requesting input from all of the nation's cybersecurity stakeholders including academia, professionals, not-for-profit organizations and private industry.

The framework organizes cybersecurity work into high-level categories ranging from the design, operation and maintenance of cybersecurity systems to incident response, information gathering and analysis. The structure is based on job analyses and groups together work and workers that share common major functions, regardless of job title.

To read the document and provide comments, go to http://csrc.nist.gov/nice/framework/. The webpage also provides a template for comments, which are due Dec. 16, 2011.

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Wells Fargo forms new group to finance REITs ? HousingWire

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011, 2:41 pm

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC: 24.99 -5.80%) announced the creation of a new business segment Wednesday that will provide financing for real estate investment trusts.

Wells Fargo REIT Finance Group will offer banking services, lines of credit, term loans and construction loans to REITs.

The new unit will provide services to publicly traded real estate investment trusts that specialize in commercial real estate, the bank said Wednesday.

The banking giant formed the new REIT finance segment by pulling together professionals from several Wells Fargo business segments to ensure the finance team has the expertise to serve the bank's REIT clients.

Wells Fargo specifically named Rex Rudy, formerly managing director of real estate syndicated finance at Wells Fargo Securities, as managing director and head of the new REIT Finance Group.

The new division will operate out of offices located in Charlotte, Chicago and Los Angeles. Matt Ricketts, managing director, will lead the segment's Eastern region, while Scott Solis was named managing director of the central region.

Derek Evans will serve as managing director for the Western region.

The bank's move comes at a time when REITs are experiencing some success in the market. The majority of real estate investment trusts bested third-quarter earnings projections this past month, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a recent report.

Still, KBW says REITs remain cautious when projecting earnings for the 2012 fiscal year because of lingering concerns over the global economy.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Source: http://www.housingwire.com/2011/11/09/wells-fargo-forms-new-group-to-finance-reits?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wells-fargo-forms-new-group-to-finance-reits

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An incredible shrinking material

Monday, November 7, 2011

They shrink when you heat 'em. Most materials expand when heated, but a few contract. Now engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have figured out how one of these curious materials, scandium trifluoride (ScF3), does the trick?a finding, they say, that will lead to a deeper understanding of all kinds of materials.

The researchers, led by graduate student Chen Li, published their results in the Nov. 4 issue of Physical Review Letters (PRL).

Materials that don't expand under heat aren't just an oddity. They're useful in a variety of applications -- in mechanical machines such as clocks, for example, that have to be extremely precise. Materials that contract could counteract the expansion of more conventional ones, helping devices remain stable even when the heat is on.

"When you heat a solid, most of the heat goes into the vibrations of the atoms," explains Brent Fultz, professor of materials science and applied physics and a coauthor of the paper. In normal materials, this vibration causes atoms to move apart and the material to expand. A few of the known shrinking materials, however, have unique crystal structures that cause them to contract when heated, a property called negative thermal expansion. But because these crystal structures are complicated, scientists have not been able to clearly see how heat -- in the form of atomic vibrations -- could lead to contraction.

But in 2010 researchers discovered negative thermal expansion in ScF3, a powdery substance with a relatively simple crystal structure. To figure out how its atoms vibrated under heat, Li, Fultz, and their colleagues used a computer to simulate each atom's quantum behavior. The team also probed the material's properties by blasting it with neutrons at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee; by measuring the angles and speeds with which the neutrons scattered off the atoms in the crystal lattice, the team could study the atoms' vibrations. The more the material is heated the more it contracts, so by doing this scattering experiment at increasing temperatures, the team learned how the vibrations changed as the material shrank.

The results paint a clear picture of how the material shrinks, the researchers say. You can imagine the bound scandium and fluorine atoms as balls attached to one another with springs. The lighter fluorine atom is linked to two heavier scandium atoms on opposite sides. As the temperature is cranked up, all the atoms jiggle in many directions. But because of the linear arrangement of the fluorine and two scandiums, the fluorine vibrates more in directions perpendicular to the springs. With every shake, the fluorine pulls the scandium atoms toward each other. Since this happens throughout the material, the entire structure shrinks.

The surprise, the researchers say, was that in the large fluorine vibrations, the energy in the springs is proportional to the atom's displacement -- how far the atom moves while shaking -- raised to the fourth power, a behavior known as a quartic oscillation. Most materials are dominated by quadratic (or harmonic) oscillations -- characteristic of the typical back-and-forth motion of springs and pendulums -- in which the stored energy is proportional to the square of the displacement.

"A nearly pure quantum quartic oscillator has never been seen in atom vibrations in crystals," Fultz says. Many materials have a little bit of quartic behavior, he explains, but their quartic tendencies are pretty small. In the case of ScF3, however, the team observed the quartic behavior very clearly. "A pure quartic oscillator is a lot of fun," he says. "Now that we've found a case that's very pure, I think we know where to look for it in many other materials." Understanding quartic oscillator behavior will help engineers design materials with unusual thermal properties. "In my opinion," Fultz says, "that will be the biggest long-term impact of this work."

###

California Institute of Technology: http://www.caltech.edu

Thanks to California Institute of Technology for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114992/An_incredible_shrinking_material

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Dish Network letter to the FCC says its LTE plans can help bring broadband to every American

High speed data connections available from Fairbanks to Miami? We can get with that, and Dish Network hopes the idea will appeal to the FCC as well so it can deploy its hybrid satellite/LTE network. Despite the hurdles faced by LightSquared's similar technology, DailyWireless reports Dish claims its network will have no such issues. Other wireless companies are asking for more details before the feds let Dish use the technology it has put together from its purchases of DBSD and Terrestar. We'll keep an eye out for the FCC's response, for now if you need more info on the playing field you can check the source link, or dive directly into Dish's 67-page letter.

Dish Network letter to the FCC says its LTE plans can help bring broadband to every American originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Penn State's Sandusky barred from being with grandchildren (Reuters)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa (Reuters) ? Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, accused of sexually-abusing eight boys over more than a decade, is barred from being alone with three grandchildren, a county official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Center County recorder Debra Immel said the order issued by County Court Judge Thomas Kistler on behalf of three children, states that they cannot be in Sandusky's presence or in his home without supervision.

"And no overnight visits" at his home, she said in a telephone interview.

The children live with both parents in a shared custody arrangement. Sandusky is the children's paternal grandfather and the temporary order was sought by the mother, Immel said.

Sandusky, who retired as Penn State's defensive coordinator in 1999, faces 40 charges related to sexual abuse of boys he met through a nonprofit organization he founded.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Peter Bohan and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/us_nm/us_crime_coach_order

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