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SYDNEY (AFP) –
Dozens of protesters shut down the railway line leading to Australia's biggest coal export facility on Sunday, in protest over what they said was the failure of global climate change talks in Copenhagen.

Some 40 activists with the environmental group Rising Tide Newcastle stopped a coal train and chained themselves to it and the rail tracks to effectively close the line at Newcastle north of Sydney.

"A number of arrests have been made," a police spokesman told AFP.

Rising Tide said 23 people were arrested as the protesters were removed from the human blockade, which they said shut down the line for six hours.

The group said its action was triggered by the outcome of the UN climate talks in the Danish capital, which even UN chief General Ban Ki-moon admitted had failed to win global consensus and would disappoint many.

"The US, Australia, and other wealthy countries wrecked the Copenhagen climate talks," said protest spokesman Steve Phillips.

"They refused to lift their paltry greenhouse pollution targets to the levels required to avoid catastrophe.

"They could have done something great, but they failed. They let greed and self interest take precedence over the survival of life on earth, and we are here today to condemn them in the strongest possible terms."

The group said coal exports from Newcastle were Australia's single biggest contribution to the climate crisis.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said the coal industry, a major contributor to the Australian economy, should be prepared for more protests.

"Civil society is getting more and more frustrated and angry with the inaction of the pollution-bound, big-party politicians," he said.

"We are going to see more protest action against the powerful coal mining lobby, which wants to open more coal mines."

An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) coordinated opposition to the Senate health bill’s abortion compromise this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO.
Stupak, in an interview with POLITICO, called the Senate bill’s abortion position "unacceptable" – but disavowed his staffer’s collaboration with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“I never talked to McConnell about the health care bill,” said Stupak, adding that “I did not authorize the email [which] “was sent without my knowledge.” 
Stupak said that he has discussed the Senate’s abortion position with Democratic senators Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Robert Casey (Penn.), who both hold conservative views on abortion.
Stupak's continued opposition to the Senate plan, despite those conversations and intense pressure from the White House, suggests that reconciling it with the House bill may prove politically challenging.
The Senate language represented “a dramatic shift in federal policy,” said Stupak, adding that he remained hopeful that the differences could be resolved in conference. Nelson, though, said earlier Saturday that his support for the legislation was contingent on the abortion compromise remaining in it.
The emails suggest a previously unseen degree of coordination between the offices of Stupak and McConnell. Stupak is the leader of a group of pro-life Democrats who say they’ll oppose the sweeping legislation if it uses government money to pay for abortion, while McConnell is firmly committed to killing the legislation.
The fact that their offices have made common cause against the Senate's health care compromise will likely further infuriate Stupak’s Democratic colleagues in the House, and demonstrates his willingness to stop any bill that doesn’t pass his test.
“Guys - when will we see your letters of opposition to the managers amendment?? We need them ASAP!” wrote Erika Smith, the Stupak aide, at 9:23 this morning, less than an hour after the amendment had become available.
The email’s recipients included key staffers for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Right to Life, the Family Research Council, as well as Autumn Fredericks Christensen, aide to top pro-life Republican Chris Smith, and Lanier Swann, a McConnell aide.
A minute after Smith sent out her plea, Lanier reiterated it to the list.
“Nelson is telling people in the building he will vote yes. If there was any time to weigh in against this deal —- THIS IS IT,” Swann wrote at 9:24 a.m.
Response to the bill has been negative from groups on all sides of the abortion divide.
Douglas Johnson, an official at the National Right to Life Committee, a group whose staffers were looped on Smith’s email, released a statement Saturday afternoon calling the Senate compromise “light years” away from Stupak's amendment. The president of the Susan B. Anthony List, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said the bill “is not ‘compromise’ or ‘middle ground’ – it is a betrayal of conscience for millions of Americans.”
“The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the Senate bill, and it actually creates some new abortion-related problems,” she said.
Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood, called it “a sad day when women’s health is traded away for one vote,” adding that “there is no policy reason for this action, it is simply a political maneuver.” And the National Organization of Women sent out a release calling the provision “every bit as bad as the infamous House-passed Stupak-Pitts Amendment.”
The manager’s amendment, which emerged after hours of negotiations between Nelson and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, stops short of the total ban on health insurance plans that participate in a new exchange system offering abortion coverage. Instead, it includes a provision that allows states to prohibit abortion coverage in the exchanges.
The amendment also requires that health plans that provide abortion services separate, for accounting purposes, private premiums and federal funds, and ensure that the federal funds don't pay for abortion services, a maneuver derided in the past by anti-abortion groups as a shell game.

The compromise paved the way for a Senate vote on President Obama's top priority, but the frantic emails this morning suggest reconciling the bill with the House’s may remain an obstacle.

Stupak said that he was in Northern Michigan, without internet access, when the emails were sent from his office to McConnell’s. Smith “should have let me make up my own mind,” said Stupak.

A spokesman for McConnell declined to comment about the staffers’ exchange.

Read More Stories from POLITICOPayoffs for states seal Senate dealDemocrats strike health care dealBoxer stands by abortion compromiseMainer vies for another firstSenate approves $626B Defense bill

NEW YORK – A Deutsche Bank analyst upgraded CA Inc. Wednesday, saying the business software company is poised to benefit from opportunities in the new technologies of virtualization and cloud computing.
Virtualization helps companies save money on power and equipment by enabling a single computer to function like multiple machines. Cloud computing is centered on the idea of running software from remotely hosted computers rather than on the user's own machine.
Analyst Todd Raker raised his rating to "Buy" from "Hold" and increased his target price on the company's shares to $28 from $22. Shares of CA finished Tuesday's trading at $21.91.
Raker said that as cloud computing starts to see "significant adoption" by businesses, managing how it is used will become increasingly important. Cloud computing leads to increased service and elevated security requirements for the companies that use them, and CA's "product portfolio is well positioned to benefit," the analyst said.
"We think the Street does not fully appreciate the virtualization/cloud computing management opportunity," Raker added.
In premarket activity, CA shares added 79 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $22.70.

LONDON (Reuters) –
Global equities slipped on Wednesday with Japan leading the falls on concerns over the pace of recovery, while crude oil prices recovered and the euro picked up from a one-month low on bargain hunting.

Worries over Dubai's debt problems dampened risk appetite, though the stock sell-off was limited outside the Gulf after sharp losses in European and U.S. equities in the previous session. Safe-haven government bonds were steady.

Dubai's benchmark fell 6.2 percent, hitting a more than eight-month low and leading emerging market shares weaker.

The MSCI emerging equities index lost 0.7 percent and the MSCI All-Country World Index eased 0.3 percent, with Japan's Nikkei average down 1.3 percent after a bigger-than-expected downward revision to Japanese economic growth in the third quarter.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.4 percent, falling for the third day in a row, and Greek bank shares extended recent losses, down 3.1 percent after Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded the country's sovereign rating on fiscal deterioration.

"There is no real reason for anyone to go back into the market. The year-end wind down and the flattening of traders' books started a week or so ago," said Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe.

Greece's downgrade along with Dubai's debt crisis had weighed on the euro, but the currency recovered from a one-month low on Wednesday.

The euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.4735 after a three-day of decline against the dollar.

"While there is always the risk of another heavily-indebted country being downgraded this year, such as Spain, Ireland or Portugal, it looks like the euro will now stabilize at around $1.4700," said Stuart Bennett, senior fx strategist at Calyon in London.

The U.S. currency also fell 0.8 percent to 87.67 yen.

Worries about Britain's fiscal health continued to pressure sterling, which dipped below the $1.62 mark for the first time since mid-October ahead of finance minister Alistair Darling's pre-budget report at 1230 GMT (7:30 a.m. EST).

Oil prices recovered to above $73 a barrel, supported by industry data showing a big drop in U.S. crude stocks and a Saudi Arabian assurance over the strength of Gulf economies.

Gold edged off three-week lows as the dollar failed to retain gains.

Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries were steady at 3.390 percent, while those on 10-year Bund were down 2 basis points at 3.140 percent. (Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson and Naomi Tajitsu in London, editing by Mike Peacock)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
The last in a wave of hundreds of shareholder lawsuits over the 2001 AOL-Time Warner merger was dismissed on Monday by a New York judge who found the claim was filed too late and failed to link investor losses to statements made by AOL's auditor, Ernst & Young.

U.S. District Judge Colleen MacMahon granted Ernst & Young's motion to dismiss the complaint brought against it in 2003 by private investigator and former AOL shareholder Dominic Amorosa.

Amorosa filed his case after time limits for securities fraud cases had expired, and failed "to connect specific statements made by the auditor" to stock losses, the judge wrote. Amorosa had originally sued AOL, Time Warner, the merged company, AOL European partner Bertelsmann AG, and 11 executives in addition to Ernst & Young. The other defendants were dismissed from the case in earlier proceedings.

The court also said it was considering sanctions against Amorosa's lawyer, Christopher Gray, over procedural "shenanigans" in the case. Neither Gray nor Ernst & Young could be reached for comment late on Monday.

Amorosa accused Ernst & Young of approving false and misleading financial statements that were incorporated into the merger registration statement and of concealing AOL's improper methods of booking online ad revenue.

Those revenue recognition practices became the focus of investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department, and AOL later restated some financial results for 2000 through 2002.

The restatements led to hundreds of investor lawsuits, all but about 200 of which were consolidated into a class action in New York federal court. All have been settled or dismissed.

Ernst & Young contended that Amorosa -- who opted out of the class action to file his own suit -- was a "vexatious litigant pursuing clearly frivolous claims," the judge wrote.

She said she would consider sanctions at a separate proceeding.

The case is Dominic Amorosa vs. Ernst & Young, case no. 03-03902, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Gina Keating; Editing by Richard Chang)

MELBOURNE, Australia – Tiger Woods first made his move in the Australian Masters in the middle of the opening round, getting his name on the leaderboard next to a player named "Jordan" that even some of the local fans did not recognize.
Damien Jordan, the last player to get into the field, was worth getting to know.
The 29-year-old rookie fulfilled one part of his dream by making it through Q-school last year on the Australasian Tour, a goal that had been put on hold when he enlisted in the Army and served two tours in Iraq.
The first tour was for five months in 2002, and he returned in 2005 for a seven-month tour of more heavy combat. He left the Army a year later, and took two years to polish his game. If anything, it has given him a different perspective than most.
"Regardless of what happens, I know I'll go home at the end of the day and have a hot shower, have a good feed," he said. "Half the time you're over there, you're thinking, 'This could be the time when an IED goes off and I'm not going home.'"
Jordan's parents introduced him to golf at a young age, and he was slowly developing into a decent golfer when he felt compelled to join the Army at age, serving in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.
"A lot of people before me have given their lives for the country, and I thought, 'Why should I be different and not put my end up?'" Jordan said. "That's what I did. I met a lot of good mates, a lot of friends for life, and it made me stronger out here."
Even now, he faces a struggle different from most.
He said his time in the Army cost him his marriage, which Jordan said was one of the untold statistics of Army life. He spends as much time as he can with his two daughters, ages 2 and 3.
Jordan said he will take medication the rest of his life to cope with the dreams, and he continues to see a psychiatrist twice a month.
"Even smells can bring it back," he said. "I walked into a fruit and vegetable shop, and there had been an Iraqi shop that had the same incense going," he said. "That made it tough. It was exactly the same. I'm trying to get away from stuff like that."
Jordan mostly played the pro-am circuit this year in Australia, in which amateurs put up the purse while playing with the pros. It would be comparable to a mini-tour in the United States, and Jordan won eight tournaments.
The Australian Masters was his first event that counted on the world ranking. He opened with a 69 before falling well back and finishing toward the bottom of the leaderboard.
Asked for his greatest moment in golf, he smiled.
"Playing here, mate," he said. "It's the biggest thing I've ever done in my golf career. To make the cut, and to be out here, is just brilliant. And I got to see Tiger. To play in the field with anyone of that stature is phenomenal."
Jordan was not sure if he would get into the Australian Open or the Australian PGA Championship next month. Asked for his ultimate goal, he did not mention winning or even playing a particular tournament.
"Just keep living the dream, doing what I'm doing," Jordan said. "Every day is a win for me."
___

RACE TO DUBAI: The European Tour has four players in position to win the Race to Dubai, which features a $7.5 million bonus pool in addition to the $7.5 million purse this week at the Dubai World Championship.

Rory McIlroy, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland, moved atop the standings with his runner-up finish last week in Hong Kong, putting him about $190,000 ahead of Lee Westwood. They are followed by Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher.

Paul Casey is fifth in the standings, but has withdrawn with a recurring rib injury.

___

PRESIDENTS CUP: PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour has agreed to look into the possibility of staging the Presidents Cup in China in 2019, which he said might be enough time for China to set a goal of having a player capable of competing in the matches, or worthy enough to be a captain's pick.

If that's the case, it would leave 2015 open for an international venue.

Finchem is intrigued by the idea that the Presidents Cup head to South America in 2015, one year before golf returns to the Olympic program in Brazil. Golf is only guaranteed the 2016 and 2020 Olympics before another vote of confirmation. It is important that golf put on a good show in Rio.

"We can't just show up and say, 'We're here,'" Finchem said.

The Nationwide Tour is headed to Colombia next year, home country of Camilo Villegas. One problem is that the best players from South America are coming from Argentina — two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, Andres Romero, Ricardo Gonzalez, Daniel Vancsik and Estanislao Goya. Argentina held a wildly successful World Cup, won by Tiger Woods and David Duval, in 2000.

"Will that help with an Olympics in Brazil? I don't know," Finchem said.

He said the first priority before South America — perhaps Brazil, in this case — can be considered for a Presidents Cup is getting more golf courses built.

___

TIGER'S CHECK: Depending on the exchange rate when the check was written, Tiger Woods earned a little more than $250,000 for his victory in the Australian Masters, which was the sixth-lowest winning check of his career.

Two of those checks came on the PGA Tour.

Woods earned $216,000 for winning at Disney in 1996 and the Mercedes Championship at La Costa to open the next season. The tour negotiated its new TV deal later that year, and prize money took off a few years later.

The smallest check was $48,450 in 1997 for winning the Asian Honda Classic, followed by $190,798 for winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in 2000. Woods also received only $223,061 for winning the Johnnie Walker in 1998.

Of course, he received appearance fees that dwarfed the total purse in those overseas events.

___

DIVOTS: Tiger Woods earned 28 world ranking points with his victory in the Australian Masters, the fewest for any victory since he received 24 in the 2000 Johnnie Walker Classic. ... There were 91 players who earned over $1 million on the PGA Tour, the fewest since 78 players in 2005. ... The PGA Tour had 13 playoffs this year, three short of the record last set in 1991.

___

STAT OF THE WEEK: Adam Scott tied for third in Singapore and tied for sixth in Australia. It was the first time he had top 10s in consecutive tournaments since May 2008.

___

FINAL WORD: "I'm definitely playing well. I haven't missed a cut since Tiger invited me to his tournament. But unfortunately, it's not about missing cuts out here." — Chris Riley, who failed to finish inside the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list to keep his card.

NEW YORK – If you're engrossed in the tabloid Internet-gossip that has come to define the celebrity world, then John Mayer's latest CD, "Battle Studies," could provide enough fodder to fill at least a dozen Perez Hilton blog posts or at least one story in Us Weekly.
The CD's first single, "Heartbreak Warfare," already has some speculating on its subject with lyrics like: "If you want more love, why don't you say so?... Bombs are falling everywhere, heartbreak warfare."
Hmmm... could that be a message to a certain famous "friend" who he's been linked with on and off for the last two years? A look into the much-dissected love life of one of music's hottest hunks?
Mention this to Mayer himself, and you'll get a serious eye-roll, followed up with an "Are you kidding me?" look.
"I know some people think that, but it doesn't," a slightly exasperated Mayer says during a break in rehearsals for two upcoming concerts to promote his new CD (his concert airs on Fuse on Tuesday night, the same day as the album's release).
"That would mean that my personal life is more powerful than the music itself, and it's just not. No one's personal life is more powerful than music itself, and it's just not.
"By the way, I'm not the first person to process a personal life into putting out a record," he adds. "I think if there's any intrigue — obviously it would be silly of me to ask somebody not to be intrigued — but I think when the music starts playing, you're not thinking about my life, you're thinking about yours."
Mayer has rarely shied away from attention. He provides must-read updates to his more than 2.6 million followers on Twitter, engaged in a high-profile romance with Jennifer Aniston (which followed the high-profile romance with Jessica Simpson, which followed a romance with yet another startlet), has written for blogs and magazines and is known as one of the wittiest, media-savvy entertainers around.
But he is weary of those who would rather put the focus on John Mayer, the celebrity, and not John Mayer, the critically acclaimed, multiplatinum singer-songwriter-guitarist once heralded by Rolling Stone as one of rock's new "guitar gods."
"I've never liked the idea of somebody co-opting who I am, and I don't think anybody does," says Mayer, sitting in a small room as guitars wail in the background.
It's been nearly a decade since John Mayer burst onto the music scene as the boyish-looking, uncommonly gifted musician on "Room for Squares," with hits like "Your Body Is a Wonderland." Over the years, he's worked with everyone from B.B. King to Buddy Guy, won seven Grammys and created signature hits like "Daughters" and "Gravity." Billed as the "next James Taylor," he quickly created a musical identity of his own.
"Battle Studies" — his fourth studio album — is what he describes as perhaps his most lyrically complex, and yet at the same time, his most straight-foward. Now a veteran musician and producer, he has more confidence and experience when making a record: "I don't see it as a series of winning bets. I see it as something I do for a living."
The album finds Mayer at his most emotionally vulnerable, with songs titles like "Half of My Heart" (which features Taylor Swift) and "Perfectly Lonely." Mayer describes it as the "loose-ends phase of my life."
"I have all the big pieces figured out... I know what I want to do for my life, I know who my friends are, I know how to behave, I know what burns when I touch it because it's too hot," he says. "It's about tidying up those last few things so we can really get to the point in life so the struggle isn't the main event."
But Mayer's romantic struggles have become the main focus in the tabloid world — and he's rarely painted as the wounded party — most notably his relationship with Aniston, which reached its media apex when he escorted her to the Oscars earlier this year (and perhaps its low when he was quoted as confirming their then-breakup to paparazzi last year).
Mayer has dated other celebrities in the past, but the Aniston romance put him into tabloid overdrive. He was at best defined as a Lothario — at worst, a cad. But what has been potentially more damaging is that in some circles, it has overshadowed his musicianship.
"You know what I really like? I like when people say to me, 'Gee, I didn't know he could play like that,'" says guitarist Steve Jordan, who has worked with Mayer for at least five year and is featured on his latest CD. "(People) see a People magazine or a Us (Weekly) magazine and they think that's what it's all about."
And that infuriates Mayer to no end.

"By the way, I didn't really kill anybody. I didn't smash a car, I didn't commit a crime... I don't like the idea that there's an indictment on anything that I do," he says.

"The idea that there has been a sullying of my image ... I'm not going to be buried with an Us Weekly. I don't give a (expletive) about it anymore, I can't worry about it and I don't worry about it. And I don't think people want me to worry about it."

Mayer admits that perhaps a month ago, before he started promoting his album, he might have started to worry about all the tabloid chatter. But then he went to Australia and found himself playing before thousands of fans who didn't care about who he was dating, or his latest Twitter post — just about his music.

And he knew that Mayer, the musician, would be fine.

"I've never played in front of a room full of people who are chattering. I've played in front of a room full of people who are singing along to every word... that's a lot louder than chatter," he says.

___

On the Net:

http://www.johnmayer.com

HONG KONG (Reuters) –
Chinese and U.S. regulators are negotiating a pact aimed at encouraging Chinese financial institutions to buy into small and medium-sized banks in the United States, bankers briefed on the plan said on Tuesday.

Chinese bankers have complained that it's been difficult for them to set up branches or invest in banks in the world's leading economy, due partly to U.S. regulators' tough supervision and strict approval process for financial deals.

But the global financial landscape has been revamped by the credit crisis, and cash-rich Chinese banks are now bigger players on the world scene and are scouting around for investment targets.

To illustrate the global shake-down, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) (1398.HK) is now the world's biggest bank by market value, while Citigroup Inc (C.N), once the world's No.1 bank, is worth the same as a second-tier commercial bank in China.

Two senior Chinese bankers said they had been invited this year by U.S. officials, investment bankers and financial advisers to look at several potential investments in U.S. banks, mostly in financial trouble.

"The trend is already there," said one Chinese banker. "Now they're going to make this into an agreement to show there's a change in official attitude toward Chinese investments in the U.S. banking system," said the banker, who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

A Sino-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to encourage Chinese banks to invest in U.S. lenders is in the making, and China's banking regulator has sought feedback from big domestic banks, bankers told Reuters.

Over 100 U.S. banks have already been seized by regulators in the financial crisis, and more bank failures could come as the Obama administration also needs more capital to take over troubled lenders.

NO HURRY TO BUY?

The MOU would be part of a new strategic framework that ranges from climate change to international cooperation, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

The hope is to announce a deal during U.S. President Barack Obama's current visit to China, the newspaper said, citing unnamed mainland bankers briefed on the matter.

In October 2007, Minsheng Banking Corp (600016.SS), China's seventh-largest by assets, agreed to buy 9.9 percent of San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings Inc (UCBH.O) for more than $200 million in the first investment by a mainland Chinese bank in a U.S. bank.

But Minsheng has seen huge paper losses on its investment in UCBH, whose business focuses on mortgages for many Chinese Americans on the U.S. West Coast, as UCBH shares sank in the financial crisis.

Other Chinese banks such as ICBC and Merchants Bank (600036.SS) (3968.HK) have also shown an interest in expanding in the United States, but their approach may be different.

"I feel lots of uncertainties still exist in the U.S. financial market and we want to keep a distance from these toxic assets at this moment," said Ma Weihua, CEO of Merchants Bank, China's sixth-largest lender by assets.

"Our attitude toward U.S. financial assets is very conservative right now," Ma told Reuters by telephone.

Merchants Bank opened its first U.S. branch in New York about a year ago, and Ma said the branch would hire more local staff to expand its business there.

(Additional reporting by Twinnie Siu and Don Durfee, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Executives do not expect the U.S. commercial real estate market to emerge from critical condition any time soon, according to a survey by The Real Estate Roundtable.

Although the three indexes tracked by the "Sentiment Survey" have risen dramatically since the near-collapse of financial markets last year, they reflect the respondents' collective sense of relief at having survived the worst of the turmoil, according to The Real Estate Roundtable.

The U.S. commercial real estate market has been in a downward spiral for more than two years. On the whole, U.S. commercial real estate values have fallen about 40 percent from their peaks in 2007. Borrowers face shortfalls in financings when loans come due, while other borrowers are struggling to meet even monthly payments.

The delinquency rate of U.S. commercial real estate loans that had been securitized into Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) hit 4.8 percent in October, up from 4.36 the prior month and dwarfing the 0.77 rate a year earlier, according to Trepp, which tracks CMBS loans.

The Roundtable is a trade group that has been advocating for government policy changes to help jump-start the sector. It has urged policymakers to adopt its "Five-Point Liquidity Plan" which includes changes in tax rules that will allow more foreign investment and improving the Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility's (TALF) ability to foster new issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

According to the Roundtable's survey, U.S. property executives rate "current conditions" a 56 -- well below the ideal of 100.

An overall index of 100 would mean that respondents believe present conditions are "much better" than a year ago, and will be "much better" 12 months from now.

"The problems now are more clearly defined and there's a grim sense of reality setting in, but that's a long way from saying markets are stabilizing or that conditions are on the mend," Roundtable President and Chief Executive Jeffrey DeBoer said in a statement.

Policymakers need to restore credit availability, address the equity shortfall resulting from falling commercial property losses, and foremost help create jobs, the Roundtable said.

About 77 percent of the more than 100 commercial real estate executives surveyed said property values are lower than a year ago.

Although that was down from 93 percent the previous quarter, it was far from optimistic. Seventy-one percent of the respondents said they expected values to remain "about the same" or to erode even further in the next 12 months.

As far as financing sources, 28 percent of those polled said credit availability is worse today than a year ago, compared with 71 percent who said so in the previous quarter.

The percentage that characterized equity availability as worse today than a year ago also dropped significantly -- to 17 percent from 55 percent in the prior quarter. However, 95 percent expect debt market conditions to be at least the same or better 12 months from now.

(Reporting by Ilaina Jonas, editing by Matthew Lewis)

This kind of seats prevent forward movement of the occupant in case of collision. It is a safety feature, important for front seats over rear seats.

The power seat adjustments in a Lincoln Town Car. Here the seat controls are located on the door panels, next to the memory seat controls. Above the seat settings are the memory control settings which also set the mirrors and pedals.

Seat Heaters

WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming.
Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.
Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.
"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. "When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."
Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.
"It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public," he said.
Political breakdowns in the survey underscore how tough it could be to enact a law limiting pollution emissions blamed for warming. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007.
Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring and that the primary cause is a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal.
Jane Lubchenco, head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a business group meeting at the White House Thursday: "The science is pretty clear that the climate challenge before us is very real. We're already seeing impacts of climate change in our own backyards."
Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices. And a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
But many of the supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.
Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits.
"Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science.
Regional as well as political differences were detected in the polling.
People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.

One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.

"Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything," Boxer said. "Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day."

Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.

Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993, was surprised by the Pew results.

He described the decline in the Pew results as "implausible," saying there is nothing that could have caused it.

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Associated Press Writers Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org

WASHINGTON – Military personnel will get an above-inflation pay raise of 3.4 percent under a Pentagon policy bill the Senate passed Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The pay increase was a half-percentage point more than Obama sought earlier this year and beats the average pay boost in the private sector.
The popular legislation also gives Obama a few victories in his bid to kill some especially costly weapons systems, though it contains an effort by lawmakers to continue development — over the president's strong objections — of a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon's next-generation fighter jet.
The Senate cleared the House-Senate compromise measure by a 68-29 vote.
The far-reaching legislation also prohibits the Obama administration from transferring any detainee being held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba to the U.S. for trial until 45 days after it has given notice to Congress. Guantanamo prisoners could not be released into the U.S.
The bill also contains unrelated legislation strengthening federal hate crimes laws to include violence against homosexuals, angering Republicans who objected to the military measure carrying social legislation.
The bill also contains significant changes to voting procedures for U.S. troops and other American voters overseas.
Some Pentagon reform advocates had hoped Obama would take a more aggressive stance against costly and poorly performing weapons systems. But Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates focused most of their attention on a handful of items, especially trying to kill the jobs-rich but well-over-budget F-22 fighter program, which has its origins in the Cold War era and, its critics maintain, is poorly suited for anti-insurgent battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The measure would terminate production of the F-22.
Lawmakers, however, are taking on the White House — and a vaguely-worded veto threat — over a program to develop an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Air Force's multimission fighter of the future. The second engine would be built by General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce in Ohio, Indiana and other states. The main F-35 engine is built in Connecticut by Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp.
The administration promised in June to veto the legislation if it would "seriously disrupt" the F-35 program, an iffy threat at best. It says that spending on a second engine is unnecessary and impedes the progress of the Joint Strike Fighter program.
The legislation recommends $560 million for the program in 2010, and the administration has since backpedaled from the veto threat.
"I would be stunned if they vetoed," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said after the vote.
Levin also touted less-noticed provisions that would allow the U.S. to give the Afghanistan army more useful military equipment, revamp the processes for trials of enemy combatants by military commissions to conform with a Supreme Court ruling and authorize small cash payments to Afghans to try to win over their loyalties from the Taliban.
The Pentagon says the Pratt & Whitney engine is performing well and that the second engine adds unnecessary costs and would delay the program. Supporters of the program say it provides competition that would boost contractors' performance and tamp down costs.
The legislation does, however, accede to Obama's call to terminate the VH-71 replacement helicopter program for the presidential fleet. The program is six years behind schedule and estimated costs have doubled to more than $13 billion.
And it cuts the missile defense program by about 12 percent from the $10 billion-plus level envisioned by former President George W. Bush for the 2010 budget year. It supports Obama's plan to cancel the building of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.
The $680 billion measure doesn't actually fund the Pentagon's budget but provides policy guidance that is typically followed closely by the appropriations committees. It also approves Obama's $130 billion request to conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GOP Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, however, blasted the measure for calling for just a 4 percent boost in Pentagon funding.

"The bill is the beginning of a downward spiral in defense spending," Inhofe said. "We have reached a crossroads and have chosen not to invest in the long-term modernization and readiness of our military."

Republicans were irate that the so-called hate crimes legislation was attached to the bill. It would give people attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender federal protections and significantly expand the reach of hate crimes law.

The bill also increases, from $500 to $1,100, the supplemental allowance paid to service members with large families to make sure they earn at least 130 percent of the federal poverty line.

The measure also would boost troop levels to 1,425,000, about 55,000 more than current levels.

DENVER – Spectators watching the alleged balloon boy hoax unfold on live TV suggested paragliders, skydivers, fishing hooks and more to bring down the flying saucer-shaped craft thought to be carrying a 6-year-old boy.
Since the boy, Falcon Heene, was found at home and investigators declared the whole saga a hoax by the boy's parents, the e-mails flooding Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden's e-mail inbox have turned to criticism of his actions in the case.
In his online newsletter Thursday — titled "Up, Up and Away" — Alderden writes that people sent e-mails from around the world, some of them calling him gullible, fat and bald with an over-inflated ego. They compared him to Barney Fife, the bumbling sheriff's deputy on the 1960s TV show "The Andy Griffiths Show."
Alderden conceded he's fat and bald. He disagreed with most of the rest.
Though he led a weekend news conference announcing his office was pursuing criminal charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene and then appeared on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday, Alderden said he really doesn't enjoy the media spotlight.
"In fact, I'm pretty ticked off that I had to spend my weekend dealing with them instead of some quality time in the saddle," Alderden wrote. "That said, sometimes the Sheriff just has to be the spokesperson instead of putting it off on the Press Information Officer. I did my best to put an end to the media circus and have refused to do any more interviews or morning TV shows, even turning down Dr. Phil."
Richard and Mayumi Heene of Fort Collins haven't been arrested yet, and have denied it was a publicity stunt. The Heenes appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap" late last year and again in March, and investigators said the couple wanted to use publicity from the balloon episode to get their own reality TV show.
Alderden said he might address criticism next week that he misled the media in the hours after the boy was found, when he told reporters that investigators still believed the Heenes were sincere. Alderden since has said he told reporters that because he didn't want the Heenes to be tipped off to the criminal investigation.
The semi-regular newsletter, "The Bull's-eye," is posted on a private site linked to the official sheriff's site. It carries the subtitle, "Straight Shooting from the Sheriff."
Alderden wrote that one onlooker's suggestion for bringing down the balloon involved multiple helicopters and a large net. Others suggested using blimps, skydivers, paragliders, and fishing hook and line.
Alderden thanked everyone who sent ideas to rescue the craft.
"Some suggestions were actually pretty sound. Others — not so sound," the sheriff wrote.
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Larimer County Sheriff's Bulls-eye: http://www.larimersheriff.org/BullsEye/

It's only 7.30 a.m., but the front door of house number 54A is already open. Outside, a short, bald man dressed in a neat, black-checked shirt and faded gray trousers stands beneath the nondescript building's huge windows, bows his head and puts it against the wall in a sign of obeisance. Arun Mukherjee, an accounts clerk in his late 40s, has been stopping here at Mother House, Mother Teresa's home in Kolkata, on his way to work every morning for decades. For him, the building is no less than a temple. "I feel very calm when I stop here," he says a tad shyly.
Mukherjee is not alone. Inside the house, the remains of the Mother, as she is popularly referred to in the city, are buried in the courtyard. That the revered Catholic nun transcended all religion is apparent when one enters her tomb, where people are praying with folded hands, with their palms in front of their faces and with Rosary beads. For many, paying this respect to the Mother, who spent nearly 70 years here, is part of a daily homage to a woman who touched every Kolkatan's life. Up a flight of stairs is the Mother's room, sparsely furnished with a narrow iron bed, a long table and bench and a desk where she worked. Mohammad Hossain, a trader, stands outside the room with eyes closed and head bowed in prayer. "I always feel her presence here, which fills me with hope," he says. (See pictures of the life of Mother Teresa.)
The city was thus thrown into shock this week when it learned that Albania, the country of Mother Teresa's parents, had demanded that her remains be returned before her birth centenary in August 2010. One of the nuns at Mother House was appalled. She couldn't understand why the country would want the Mother's remains back when it had so little connection to her. In anticipation that Macedonia - where Mother Teresa was born and lived until she was 18 - might also join in the demand, the West Bengal–based State Forum of Christians, with more than 10 million members, has called for an all-religion mass rally to be held on Oct. 23. Herod Mullick, the leader of the forum, said the group will also be sending a memorandum to the Pope to forestall any such "unjustified, irrational and impractical" demands. Political leaders in the state dismissed the controversy as a nonissue, as the Mother was an Indian citizen. (Read TIME's cover story, "The Secret Live of Mother Teresa.")
In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collarbone, and that August, she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. She had heart surgery but never fully recovered; she died on Sept. 5, 1997. In the 12 years since, the life of the Catholic humanitarian has become intertwined with the identity of this city in eastern India. "She is part of the chromosome of Kolkata," says retired police officer Rekha Roy. "You cannot imagine Kolkata without Mother Teresa." Rajib Chakraborty, a lecturer in a Kolkata college, says, "She based her work on an ideology and institutionalized it. She has influenced many people all over the world to spare a thought for the poor and the afflicted." The prized possession of prominent Bengali author Nabarun Bhattacharya is the Mother's blessings, which reached him almost, he says, by a miracle itself. "I found an original blessing signed by Mother Teresa in an old book that I had bought," Bhattacharya says, holding a yellowish postcard with Mother Teresa's blessings in her writing. "I was going through some turbulence in my personal life during that time, and the find gave me immense hope and strength. For me, it is a sacred symbol."
At the Mother House, Sabrina David, a 39-year-old Anglo-Indian woman, had stopped by for morning prayers with her 9-year-old daughter. "I come here everyday," she says. She recalls an incident many years back when Mother Teresa was sitting on the doorstep of the house, and David approached her for some help, as she had no warm clothes to cover her 2-year-old son. "She took off the blanket that was around her and put it around my son. I get goose pimples just talking about her," she says. (Read TIME's 1975 cover story "Living Saints.")
Her daughter chimes in. "It's not so nice here anymore." Sabrina chides her, looking uncomfortable. "Things have changed since the Mother died," she admits. When the Mother was alive, wearing shoes inside the sacred spot was strictly prohibited. That rule has changed, however; one of the nuns explains that local people have followed visitors inside to steal their shoes. Theresa Bhajo, a woman who used to work at the house when Mother Teresa was alive, says sadly, "No one would even dream of stealing anything from the house. The sense of respect and awe is not there anymore."
Still, losing the earthly reminder of the transcendent spirit of charity and goodwill that Mother Teresa stood for is not something that many will stand for. "Everything the mother stood for - her genesis from a common nun to an eminence of world stature - happened in and around Kolkata," Bhattacharya says. "This creates a very special bond which is beyond technical claims. Nobody cares where Norman Bethune was born. He lived and died for China." It's time perhaps to rewind to how the Mother herself felt about it: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian," she once said. "By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world."
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FRANKFURT – German carmaker Daimler AG started construction Friday on a new euro800 million ($1.2 billion) car production facility in Kecskemet, Hungary, near Budapest, the company said.
The new plant will produce A Class and B Class Mercedes-Benz cars starting in 2012, in conjunction with its Rastatt, Germany plant, which itself will be enlarged and upgraded for a "triple-digit" million euro sum.
"Our new location in Hungary will significantly boost our competitiveness in this price-sensitive compact premium vehicle segment, and will also contribute to tapping new markets," Rainer Schmueckle, the chief operating officer of Mercedes-Benz cars said in a statement.
The new location is expected to employ 2,500 people.
Shares of Daimler were up more than 2.5 percent at euro36.07 in Frankfurt afternoon trading.
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