World stocks lower as Italy borrowing costs rise (AP)

BANGKOK ? World stock markets fell Wednesday as Europe's festering debt crisis overshadowed figures showing that Americans increased their retail spending for a fifth straight month.

Benchmark oil slipped below $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and was little changed against the yen.

European shares fell in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped marginally to 5,517.44. Germany's DAX shed 0.9 percent to 5,878.33 and France's CAC-40 lost 0.4 percent to 3,036.76.

Wall Street also braced for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures falling 0.7 percent to 11,957 while S&P 500 futures lost 0.8 percent at 1,244.50.

The retreat in Europe followed losses in Asia, where Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.9 percent to close at 8,463.16, a six-week closing low. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2 percent to 18,960.90 and South Korea's Kospi shed 1.6 percent to 1,856.07. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia also fell.

Mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.5 percent to 2,466.96, its lowest closing this month. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 2.6 percent to 1,059.24.

Data on retail sales showed Americans spending more on autos, electronics and building supplies in October ? and at a faster rate than expected. Many saw the result as a sign that the U.S. economy may well avoid another recession as consumer spending is the biggest component of the country's GDP.

Still, investors could not get past the mammoth debt loads carried by Greece and Italy, which are threatening to trigger an all-out financial crisis on the continent.

"The world does not believe the crisis is solved," said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong. "The market is still very jittery and still worried about possible effect of economic slowdown and recession in Europe. I think this will depress the market for a quite a long period."

And the problem isn't just isolated to Greece or Italy, he said.

"It's the problem of the entire Western world," Lun said. "For Europe, it overborrowed for 12 years and for the U.S., it probably overspent for 30 years ? so 30 years of mismanagement cannot be corrected in one day."

On Tuesday, higher interest rates on government debt issued by Italy, Spain and other countries rattled European stock markets. The interest rate on Italy's 10-year bond jumped back above 7 percent, a dangerously high level.

Higher borrowing costs ? in the form of extra yields that must be paid for bonds regarded as riskier ? are a sign that investors are worried that those countries may have trouble paying their debts.

The debt crisis among the 17 nations that use the euro currency "appears to be deteriorating by the day," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said in a report. "Contagion has spread across eurozone bond markets like wildfire and the lack of action to create a firewall means that that there is little to extinguish it."

Italy's borrowing rate first crossed the 7 percent threshold last week, raising worries about Rome's ability to manage its debts. Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to get rescued by international lenders when their borrowing rates crossed the same level.

Meanwhile, Chinese property shares were sharply lower amid falling housing prices as government efforts to cool the overheated housing industry take effect. Hong Kong-listed blue chip China Overseas Land & Investment fell 4.6 percent, while Poly Real Estate Group lost 4.8 percent.

Japan's Olympus Corp. soared 15.6 percent amid easing worries that the company ? embroiled in a scandal over the concealment of huge investment losses ? will be delisted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Shares of Tiger Airways jumped 6.1 percent in Singapore trade after the carrier was cleared to increase its number of flights in Australia ahead of the busy Christmas travel period.

Mainland Chinese shares in real estate, cement, media and financial companies weakened following a report from the International Monetary Fund that warned China's banks could face risks if real estate prices fall sharply or unpaid loans increase. The IMF also said other dangers could arise from growing imbalances in a Chinese economy that relies heavily on exports and investment to drive growth.

Shanghai-listed Ping An Insurance lost 4.6 percent while China Nonferrous Metal Industry lost 4.7 percent.

On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow rose 0.1 percent to 12,096.16. The S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 1,257.81, and the Nasdaq added 1.1 percent to 2,686.20.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 43 cents at $98.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.23 to settle at $99.37 in New York on Tuesday.

The euro fell to $1.3532 from $1.3543 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.94 yen from 77.04 yen.

___

Researcher Fu Ting contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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UN chief urges leaders to finalize climate fund (AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh ? U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders Monday to finalize the financing for a multibillion-dollar fund to fight the effects of climate change.

Delegates at a U.N.-sponsored climate change conference that starts Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa, are to consider ways to raise $100 billion a year for the Green Climate Fund created last December to help countries cope with global warming.

Ban told the opening session of a climate meeting in Bangladesh's capital that the world should make a concerted effort to finance the fund.

"Governments must find ways ? now ? to mobilize resources up to the $100 billion per annum pledged," he said. "An empty shell is not sufficient."

Representatives of about 30 nations in the Climate Vulnerable Forum are meeting for two days in Dhaka to formulate a united stand on funding for schemes to limit the damage from global warming.

The countries from Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific are also seeking action by industrialized nations to cut carbon emissions and provide technical and financial support.

The forum was founded by President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and first met in November 2009.

Ban said he hoped the forum would take a strong position at the Durban conference, which is to be attended by more than 190 countries.

"I will count on the members of this forum to arrive with a strong and united voice," he said.

"In this time of global economic uncertainty, let your commitment to green growth be an inspiration to more developed countries ? the major emitters," he said. "Even in these difficult times, we cannot afford delay."

The Durban conference will also seek to reach a new international climate agreement as the Kyoto Protocol expires next year.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol mandated relatively modest reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialized nations. The U.S. rejected the agreement, saying it would hurt the American economy and that cutbacks should have been required of poorer but fast-developing nations such as China and India.

Talks on a pact to succeed Kyoto have bogged down for years because of continued resistance by the U.S. and by the developing world, which says mandatory restraints on emissions would hamper efforts to alleviate poverty.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_bi_ge/as_bangladesh_climate_talks

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CNNMoney app now available in the Android Market

If you are a fan of money -- which we know you are -- odds are that you have read a thing or two on CNNMoney, and who wouldn't enjoy having that information easily accessible while on the go? Today CNN launched CNNMoney into the Android market so you can now keep track of your favorite stocks, keep up with breaking alerts, and be in the loop of other financial happenings that are taking place all in real time. With a super slick, and elegant interface, and a price tag of free, there is no reason you shouldn't be hitting the break to check out the download links now!

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Twrg7ugVfrw/story01.htm

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Turkey cancels oil search plans in Syria (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Turkey on Tuesday canceled plans for oil exploration in Syria, while also threatening to cut electricity supplies after a spate of attacks by supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad on its diplomatic missions.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced that Turkey had shelved plans for Turkey's petroleum company, TPAO, to jointly explore oil with Syria's state oil company in six wells. Yildiz also threatened that Turkey could review supplies of electricity to the troubled country if tensions continue.

"Right now, we are providing electricity (to Syria)," Yildiz said. "If (Syria) continues on this course, then we might have to reconsider these decisions."

A Turkish Energy Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with ministry regulations, told The Associated Press that Turkish companies provide Syria with on average 2 billion kilowatt/hour of electricity per year ? around 10 percent of Syria's annual power consumption

But Turkish Energy Analyst Necdet Pamir said Syria produces an excess of some 10 billion kilowatt/hour, and was therefore not likely to suffer from any possible Turkish move.

"The cut may affect some parts of Syria for a short period of time, but it does not amount to a huge loss," Pamir said.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Assad for his brutal crackdown on opponents and attacks by his supporters on Turkish diplomatic missions on Saturday.

Turkey no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime, Erdogan said, warning Assad that his brutal crackdown on opponents threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood."

Erdogan also urged Assad to punish those responsible for attacks on Turkish diplomatic missions in Syria.

Addressing Assad disrespectfully by his first name, Erdogan said: "Bashar, you who have thousands of people in jail, must find those who attacked the Turkish flag and punish them," in reference to burning of the Turkish flag in Saturday's attack on the Turkish consulate in the Syrian city of Latakia.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was "determined to implement the most effective sanctions that will not harm the people of Syria." The minister was speaking to Turkish journalists in Rabat where he is holding talks with Arab foreign ministers.

Assad's supporters tried to break into Turkish missions on Saturday to denounce an Arab League decision to suspend Syria's membership over its crackdown on the eight-month uprising. Turkey is not a member of the league, but welcomed the decision.

Erdogan took pains to note that his comments were politically neutral.

"It is not among our expectations that the Assad regime meet all the demands of the (Syrian) people," Erdogan said. "Our wish is that it (the Assad regime), which is now on a knife-edge, does not enter this road of no return, which leads to the edge of the abyss."

Turkey evacuated the families of diplomats after Saturday's attacks on its embassy in Damascus and its consulates in the cities of Aleppo and Latakia.

"I again strongly condemn the attack on the Turkish flag and our missions," Erdogan said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul warned Syria that it must protect Turkish missions.

"If they don't take necessary measures, no doubt our reaction will be different if it is repeated," Gul said.

Turkey has long urged Syria to end the crackdown, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.

"No regime can survive by killing or jailing," Erdogan said. "No one can build a future over the blood of the oppressed."

Turkey's government had cultivated warm ties with Assad, but has grown highly critical of his government. Turkey has imposed an arms embargo on Syria and is expected to announce other sanctions. Turkey has also opened its borders to Syrians fleeing the violence. More than 7,700 refugees are being sheltered in several Turkish camps along the Syrian border.

Turkey has also allowed a Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, to hold meetings in Turkey.

The council, a broad-based opposition umbrella group, was formed in Istanbul in September. No country has recognized it so far as a legal representative of the country and Syria has threatened tough measures against any country that does.

___

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_syria

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Australia seizes large haul of cocaine, arrests 4 (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? Police arrested four Spaniards in one of Australia's largest cocaine seizures, authorities said Monday.

About 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of the illegal drug were seized from a yacht on Friday at the northeastern coastal town of Bundaberg, Australian Federal Police said in a statement. Police said the yacht was crewed by Ivan Maria Ramos Valea, 35, and Julia Maria Boada Fernandez, 37, who were both arrested.

They said two other Spanish citizens ? Miguel Angel Sanchez Barrocal, 38, and Jose Herrero-Calvo, 39 ? were also arrested in Bundaberg, where they were alleged to be collecting the cocaine.

Police said they also seized more than 3 million Australian dollars ($3.1 million) in cash using search warrants in Bundaberg, Gold Coast and Sydney.

The four Spanish nationals, whose hometowns in Spain were not released, appeared in a Bundaberg court Monday charged with importing cocaine. Each faces up to life imprisonment if convicted.

They were remanded in custody to appear in court next on Jan. 12, when they are to enter pleas. Police said the haul was the fifth-largest cocaine seizure in Australian history. The drug was valued at up to $80 million.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oceania/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_cocaine

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Angry over spying, Muslims say: 'Don't call NYPD' (Providence Journal)

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Exclusive: Orbital solar power plants touted for energy needs (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The sun's abundant energy, if harvested in space, could provide a cost-effective way to meet global power needs in as little as 30 years with seed money from governments, according to a study by an international scientific group.

Orbiting power plants capable of collecting solar energy and beaming it to Earth appear "technically feasible" within a decade or two based on technologies now in the laboratory, a study group of the Paris-headquartered International Academy of Astronautics said.

Such a project may be able to achieve economic viability in 30 years or less, it said, without laying out a road map or proposing a specific architecture.

"It is clear that solar power delivered from space could play a tremendously important role in meeting the global need for energy during the 21st century," according to the study led by John Mankins, a 25-year NASA veteran and the U.S. space agency's former head of concepts.

The academy is headed by Madhavan Nair, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization. The study was billed as the first broadly based international assessment of potential paths to collecting solar energy in space and delivering it to markets on Earth via wireless power transmission.

The study said government pump-priming likely would be needed to get the concept, known as space solar power, to market. Private-sector funding is unlikely to proceed alone because of the "economic uncertainties" of the development and demonstration phases and the time lags, the study said.

Both governments and the private sector should fund research to pin down the economic viability of the concept, the study said, amid concerns about humankind's continuing reliance on finite fossil fuels that contribute to global pollution.

The study did not estimate a potential overall price tag for completing the project.

Space solar power is a potential long-term energy solution for Earth with "essentially zero" terrestrial environmental impact, according to the National Space Society, an advocacy group set to hold a news conference in Washington on Monday to publicize the academy's 248-page final report.

A copy of the study was obtained by Reuters ahead of its release.

TURN SUNLIGHT INTO ELECTRICITY

The idea is to put first one, then a few, and later scores of solar-powered satellites in geosynchronous orbit over the equator. Each as wide as several kilometers across (one kilometer equals 0.6 miles), the spacecraft would collect sunlight up to 24 hours a day, compared with half that, at most, for surface panels now used to turn sunlight into electricity.

The power would be converted to electricity on-board and sent to wherever it is needed on Earth by a large microwave-transmitting antenna or by lasers, then fed into a power grid.

Skeptics deem the concept a nonstarter, at least until the cost of putting a commercial power plant into orbit drops by a factor of 10 or more. Other hurdles include space debris, a lack of focused market studies and high development costs.

The study, conducted from 2008 to 2010 then subjected to peer review, found that the commercial case had substantially improved during the past decade, partly as a result of government incentives for nonpolluting "green" energy systems.

A pilot project to demonstrate the technology even as big as the 400-tonne International Space Station could go ahead using low-cost expendable launch vehicles being developed for other space markets, Mankins said in a telephone interview.

A moderate-scale demonstration would cost tens of billions of dollars less than previously projected as a result of not needing costly, reusable launch vehicles early on, said Mankins, president of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC, a California consultancy.

"This was a really important finding," Mankins said, referring to a relatively modestly priced pilot project.

'IT'S A START'

His company has been awarded a NASA contract of a little less than $100,000 to pursue space-based solar power options -- small "but at least it's a start," Mankins said.

Ultimately, tens of billions of dollars would be needed to develop and deploy a sufficiently low-cost fleet of reusable, earth-to-orbit vehicles to launch full-scale commercial solar power satellites, the study group estimated.

The group said the necessary research and development work should be undertaken by countries and organizations in concert, including space agencies, companies, universities and nongovernmental organizations.

International interest in the concept has grown during the past decade, spurred in part by fears that in coming decades global production of petroleum and possibly other fossil fuels will peak and start to decline.

Adding to a quest for new energy sources are projected jumps in worldwide per capita demand for energy to fuel economic development and concern over the accumulation in Earth's atmosphere of fossil fuel-derived greenhouse gases.

The idea of harnessing solar power in space has been studied off and on for 40 years, including by the U.S. Energy Department and NASA.

U.S. and Indian business, policy and national security analysts in September called for a joint U.S.-Indian feasibility study on a cooperative program to develop space-based solar power with a goal of fielding a commercially viable capability within two decades.

The study group, co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank and Aspen Institute India, included former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Naresh Chandra, a former Indian ambassador to the United States.

Colonel Michael Smith, the U.S. Air Force's chief futurist as director of the Center for Strategy and Technology at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, said the idea has the potential to send safe, clean electrical energy worldwide "if we can make it work."

"Isn't that what government and industry should be working to do?" he said in a telephone interview.

Jeff Peacock, who heads satellite-builder Boeing Co's ground-based solar cell product line, said in theory it could double the amount of solar power collected, compared with the Earth-bound technology equivalent.

(Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111113/sc_nm/us_space_energy_solar

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